You?
You? You Bridezilla!
These
are some of the new buzzwords for describing specific people types
in Word Spy (http://www.wordspy.com/),
a website that is devoted to recently coined words and phrases,
old words that are being used in new ways, and existing words that
have enjoyed a recent renaissance. Here are some gems:
Bridezilla:
A bride-to-be who, while planning her wedding, becomes exceptionally
selfish, greedy, and obnoxious.
Backgrounder:
It is a combination of bride and Godzilla, that mutant dinosaur
that would wade onto land and destroy everything in its path. The
bridal version of this monster is created by the maniacal need to
have “the perfect day” and she’ll walk over anyone
and everything to get it.
Breeder
voyeur: A heterosexual person who attends a gay bar or event
in order to observe gay life.
Famous hasbian:Actress Anne Heche ditched Ellen DeGeneres
and married cameraman Coley Laffoon.
Example citation: “These three girls are not the usual visitors
to the gay world: jittery straight couples who sit stiffly, clutching
each other as they look around wide-eyed – ‘breeder voyeurs,’
as they are known among gays. – Stephanie Nolen, Girls Just
Wanna Have Fun, The Globe and Mail, Feb 13, 1999.
Hasbian:
A former lesbian who is now in a heterosexual relationship.
Backgrounder:
This word appears to be a play on the phrase has-been, a person
who was once important or popular but is now largely forgotten.
Given such a less-than-flattering association, can there be any
doubt that this word was coined by women who are still lesbians?
Himbo:
A man who is good-looking, but unintelligent or superficial.
Backgrounder:
It is the result of a linguistic sex-change operation that sutured
the male pronoun him onto the usually feminine insult bimbo. It’s
a better blend than the less intelligible mimbo (male bimbo) mix
that was coined in a Seinfeld episode.
Leather
spinster: A heterosexual or asexual woman who is happily unmarried
and has no desire to seek a mate.
Backgrounder:
The phrase leather spinster (where the word “leather”
is used to suggest a certain toughness) was popularised a few years
ago by Regena English, who founded the Leather Spinster Web site
and e-zine (www.leatherspinsters.com).
Toxic
bachelor: An unmarried man who is selfish, insensitive, and
afraid of commitment.
Backgrounder:
This phrase was coined by Candace Bushnell in one of her original
Sex and the City columns for the New York Observer in the mid-1990s.
Wasband:
An ex-husband.
Backgrounder:
A clever and euphonious blend of the words was and husband.
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