The Oxford Dictionary of New Words
.pdfApart from the Hi-Fi facility there's a 14-day, six-event timer, advanced trick frame with five-speed slomo (1/36, 1/24, 1/15, 1/10 or 1/6).
Which Video? Jan. 1987, p. 4
19.10 smart...
smart adjective (Science and Technology) (War and Weaponry)
Of a machine: able to react to different conditions, computerized, intelligent (see intelligent°). Used especially in:
smart bomb (or missile, weapon, etc.): a bomb (or other weapon) which is able to track and 'lock on to' its target; a
laser-guided weapon;
smart card, a plastic bank card or similar device with an embedded microprocessor, used in conjunction with an electronic card-reader to authorize or provide particular services,
especially the automatic transfer of funds between bank accounts;
smart house, a house with a central computer providing integrated control of environmental services such as heating; an intelligent building (see intelligentý);
smart rock, a code-name for an intelligent weapon planned for the Star Wars programme.
Etymology: A figurative use of smart in the sense 'clever': compare intelligent°.
History and Usage: Smart is a word with a similar history to active except that it immediately preceded active in the fashionable language of advertising and product names. It was picked up by marketers in the early eighties and by the end of
the decade (as the New York Times quotation below shows) seemed to be applicable to almost any product with a measure of computerization. The concept of smart bombs which could home in
on a target with very high levels of accuracy dates from the early seventies, but enjoyed considerable exposure during the Gulf War of 1991.
The dream of many proponents of precision-guided munitions, very tiny and effective smart weapons, will founder on the need to carry heavy electronic shielding.
Atlantic Mar. 1987, p. 28
The beauty of the algorithm...is that it can be built into hardware that will fit even on 'smart cards', and enables the identity of end-users to be checked in less than a second.
The Times 23 Feb. 1988, p. 30
The ultimate manifestation of the 'smart' house...was the Smart Seat, a microprocessor-controlled bidet attachment for the toilet.
New York Times 25 Jan. 1990, section C, p. 6
With eerie precision, 'smart' bombs dropped down air shafts and burst through bunker doors.
Newsweek 28 Jan. 1991, p. 15
Smart Art (Lifestyle and Leisure) see Neo-Geo
smiley noun (Youth Culture)
(More fully smiley face or smiley badge): a round cartoon-style representation of a smiling face (usually black on yellow), used as a symbol in youth culture, especially in connection with acid house.
Etymology: Formed by abbreviating smiley face to its first word and treating this as a noun.
History and Usage: The black-on-yellow smiley first appeared as a late hippie symbol of peace and happiness in the early seventies. Towards the end of the seventies it enjoyed a revival
among young people in the US (especially in California), but it was really its association with acid house, and in particular
the suggestion that it was being used as the symbol of drug users, that brought it into the news in about 1988. As is often the way with young people's fashions, it became unfashionable almost as soon as it had been brought to public notice in this way. The smiley symbol has been used in many ways that are connected neither with youth culture nor with drugs: for example, it was the official symbol of the Lord Mayor of
London's theme 'Service with a Smile' in 1985-6, and seems to be becoming accepted as a general symbol of approval (shorthand for 'I like this', for example written by the teacher on a child's schoolwork). A smiley with black features on white and another in reverse video are part of the standard ASCII character set
for microcomputers.
Brad's eye roved the room, which had recently taken on a second identity as an art gallery and was filled with murals depicting the deconstruction of the smiley face.
David Leavitt The Lost Language of Cranes (1986; 1987 ed.), p. 198
In the crowd you may also spot the odd man in navy Top Man tracksuit, immaculate new trainers and strange accessories such as bandanas or Smiley badges--these are plain-clothes policemen or tabloid journalists.
The Face Dec. 1989, p. 63
Glasgow's close association with the Mr Smiley logo predates acid house by several years, his happy face harnessed in 1983 to sell the world the PR legend, 'Glasgow's Miles Better'.
The Face June 1990, p. 100
smoothie noun (Lifestyle and Leisure)
A smooth thick drink consisting of fresh fruit (especially banana), pur‚ed with milk, yoghurt, or ice cream.
Etymology: So named because of its smooth consistency.
History and Usage: The smoothie, a variation on the traditional milkshake, is a drink which is best known in the US, Australia, and New Zealand.
There are some definite winners among the selections: Freshly made onion rings, a yogurt and fruit drink called a 'smoothie', [etc.].
Washington Post 2 June 1977, section F, p. 12
In New York now, there are entire bars which cater for trendy non-drinkers. They serve nothing but a selection of mineral waters, soft drinks and non-alcoholic cocktails (called 'smoothies').
Sunday Telegraph Magazine 7 June 1987, p. 30
It's worth noting that the shop underneath makes ripper soymilk smoothies. Buy yourself a strawberry job with frozen yoghurt.
Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 1 Jan. 1989, p. 34
19.11 snuff
snuff noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) (People and Society)
Used attributively of an illegal film or video (in snuff video etc.): depicting scenes of cruelty and killing in which the victim is not an actor, but is actually tortured or killed.
Etymology: A reference to the horrific snuffing out of life which these videos portray.
History and Usage: Privately circulated snuff videos have allegedly been known to the police since the seventies. They figured briefly in the news in 1990, when police claimed to have cracked a paedophile ring which had been involved in the production of these films, and linked the crimes with the disappearances of a number of young boys in the UK during the eighties.
New York City police detective Joseph Horman said...that the 8-millimetre, eight-reel films called 'snuff' or
'slasher' movies had been in tightly controlled distribution.
Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario) 2 Oct. 1975, p. 3
As police in east London continued investigations into the disappearance of young boys, Mr Waddington, Home Secretary, yesterday expressed his 'absolute horror' at
the possibility that some of them may have been murdered during the making of pornographic 'snuff' videos.
Daily Telegraph 28 July 1990, p. 3
See also nasty and slasher
19.12 soca...
soca |
noun Also written sokah (Music) (Youth Culture) |
A variety of calypso, originally from Trinidad, which incorporates various elements of soul music, especially its sophisticated instrumental arrangements.
Etymology: A clipped compound, formed from the first two letters of soul and the initial syllable of calypso.
History and Usage: Soca (at first called soul calypso) originated in Trinidad during the early seventies and by the end of the decade had spread to the world of American and British popular music. The spelling sokah relates to the title of an early soca record, Sokah, Soul of Calypso (1977) by 'Lord Shorty', a founding influence on the genre.
The banned 'Soca Baptist' by Blue Boy...brought out the real Carnival spirit from southerners.
Trinidad Guardian 11 Feb. 1980, p. 1
Few people would guess that some soca, reggae,
lovers'-rock and, particularly, soul and dance music sometimes outsell 'chart' records.
Sue Steward & Sheryl Garratt Signed, Sealed & Delivered (1984), p. 12
The records that fueled it--French Antillean and
Trinidadian soca sides...from the nearby Guianas.
Village Voice (New York) 30 Jan. 1990, p. 83
soft lens (Health and Fitness) see lens
software package
(Science and Technology) see package
solvent abuse
(Drugs) see abuse
-something
(People and Society) see thirtysomething
soul calypso
(Music) (Youth Culture) see soca
sound |
(Environment) see environmentally |
sound bite
noun (Lifestyle and Leisure) (Politics)
A short, pithy extract from a recorded interview, speech, etc. used for maximum punchiness as part of a news or party political broadcast; also, a one-liner deliberately produced to be used in this way.
Etymology: Formed by compounding. The use of bite here both puts across the idea of a snatch of soundtrack taken from a longer whole and includes undertones of the high-tech approach to units of information (bytes).
History and Usage: The term has been in use among radio and television journalists in the US for some time, and first appeared in print in the early eighties. Perhaps because of
developments in television newscasting techniques in the eighties, it has become more and more prevalent, reflecting the view that the public will not follow more than a few seconds of speech from any single interview, although several minutes from a reporter will be fine. (In television journalism sound bites
are often interspersed with a reporter's pr‚cis of a speaker's words as a voice-over to a soundless film of the speaker.) The technique, as well as the term, came to public notice during the
US presidential campaign of 1988, when sound bites were used to great effect on the campaign trail and in televised debates between the protagonists.
Remember that any editor watching needs a concise, 30-second sound bite. Anything more than that and you're losing them.
Washington Post 22 June 1980, section 1, p. 1
This has been the election of the 'sound-bite', the 20-second film clip on the evening television news which defines most Americans' view of the day's campaigning. The Bush campaign...has been consistently out-biting the Dukakis camp.
Independent 24 Sept. 1988, p. 10
sounding (Youth Culture) see diss
19.13 space shuttle, Space Transportation System...
space shuttle, Space Transportation System Space Transportation System (Science and Technology) see shuttle
-speak see -babble
specialog(ue)
(Business World) (Lifestyle and Leisure) see magalog
speed noun (Music) (Youth Culture)
A variety of heavy metal rock music that is very similar to thrash; also known more fully as speed metal.
The latest branch on rock's American tree is a phenomenon tagged Speed Metal, the place where HM supposedly mates with hardcore.
New Musical Express 14 Feb. 1987, p. 7
spin doctor
noun (Politics)
In the jargon of US politics, a senior political spokesperson employed to promote a favourable interpretation of events to journalists; a politician's flak.
Etymology: Formed by compounding. In US politics, spin is interpretation, the bias or slant put on information when it is presented to the public or in a press conference; all information can have a positive or negative spin. This in turn is a sporting metaphor, from the spin put on the ball, for
example by a pitcher in baseball. Doctor comes from the various figurative uses of the verb doctor (ranging from 'patch up,
mend' to 'falsify'), perhaps under the influence of play doctor 'a writer employed to improve someone else's play'.
History and Usage: The phrase spin doctor was first used in print in October 1984 in an editorial in the New York Times about the aftermath of the televised debate between US presidential candidates Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale:
A dozen men in good suits and women in silk dresses will circulate smoothly among the reporters, spouting confident opinions. They won't be just press agents
trying to impart a favorable spin to a routine release. They'll be the Spin Doctors, senior advisers to the candidates.
The term started to crop up quite frequently in political journalism in the mid eighties, and became a real buzzword during 1988. It is used both in relation to electoral campaigns and of other events, such as top-level international summits and disarmament negotiations. There is only a subtle distinction between the job of the flak and that of the spin doctor: the former tries to turn negative publicity, criticism, or failure
to advantage, while the latter is trying to impart the right spin from the outset, so that there is no damage limitation exercise to be done. The activity of a spin doctor is spin doctoring.
We were treated to the insights of Elliott Abrams,...the administration's most versatile spin doctor on Nicaraguan affairs.
Maclean's 2 Apr. 1990, p. 11
The resultant emphasis on the British end of things is more than so much 'spin doctoring'.
Delaware Today July 1990, p. 76
spoiler° noun (Science and Technology)
An electronic device incorporated into a piece of recording equipment so as to prevent unauthorized recording (for example from a CD on to DAT), by means of a spoiler signal which cannot be heard during normal playing, but which ruins any subsequent recording; also, the signal itself.
Etymology: A specialized use of spoiler 'something which spoils'.
History and Usage: The first spoilers, really a form of electronic jamming, were developed experimentally in the late seventies. During the eighties, demand for some kind of spoiler system was quite intense in the EC and the US as the introduction of DAT approached; manufacturers of CDs in particular expressed their DATphobia (see DAT) by lobbying governments to require DAT tape decks to carry some kind of built-in spoiler to prevent widespread pirating of their recordings.
CBS recently tried to introduce a 'spoiler' system
called Copycode. This, it was claimed, would prevent any CD/DAT recording.
Which? July 1988, p. 345
spoilerý noun (Lifestyle and Leisure)
In media jargon, something that is published to spoil the impact of, and divert attention from, a similar item published elsewhere.
Etymology: Another specialized sense of spoiler; a media piece which spoils the success of the original.
History and Usage: An aspect of the intense competition of the newspaper world, the spoiler depends on good intelligence sources and may be a complete publication such as a newspaper, or simply an individual article designed to minimize the sucess of another publisher's scoop.
Lord Rothermere, who had always claimed the Evening News was more than a temporary spoiler, said yesterday the
paper and its staff had fought well.
Financial Times 31 Oct. 1987, section 1, p. 4
The speech made the front pages of The Daily Mail, The Times and The Daily Telegraph...The Independent...treated it as a spoiler for Paddy Ashdown's 'green' speech to his party conference a couple of days later.
Daily Telegraph 30 Dec. 1989, Weekend section, p. v
spud |
(Lifestyle and Leisure) (People and Society) see couch potato |
squeaky clean
adjectival phrase Also written squeaky-clean (Politics)
(Of hair) washed and rinsed so clean that it squeaks, completely clean; hence used figuratively (especially in political
contexts): above criticism, beyond reproach.
Etymology: Formed by combining the two adjectives squeaky and clean; normally an adjective would not qualify another adjective in this way in English, so some speakers might prefer squeakily clean.