A Lexicon of Neologisms.  Mikhail Epstein (Emory University)

 


                   People. Characters

 

chairy  adj (chair + suffix -y) – someone who likes to chair meetings, to preside, to be a master of ceremonies. 

 

Jimmy is every bit as chairy as Andrew, which spells trouble at a small institution like ours.

 

She is a wonderful person, but maybe just a touch too chairy to  make a pleasant housemate.

 

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domestican n  (Lat domesticus, belonging to the household, from domus, house) - someone who preaches the values of domestic life, worships the deities of hearth and home.

 

He is a sort of a monk, though his monastery is his own house. In a word, he is a domestican.

 

A typical domestican hates public spaces, preferring kitchen and living room to all attractions  of the world.

 

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fatenik n (fate  + suffix nik) – someone who flirts with the idea of fate; one who  constantly watches  for omens, considers astrological  signs, etc.

 

A fatalist  believes that that all events are determined by fate and are hence inevitable.  A fatenik is a playful and superficial fatalist who enjoys signs of the transcendental without giving them much importance in his/her  life.

 

Do not pay attention to Lisa's premonitions. She is a fatenik and easily picks up stupid rumors.

                 

 

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ifnik n (if + suffix nik) – someone whose life, habits and thinking are constructed conditionally.

 

Don't ask him what he's going to do. A typical ifnik, he will give you a dozen of "ifs."

 

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meetnik n  (meet  + suffix nik) – a person who enjoys meetings and all sorts of administrative events  willingly attends them in abundance.

 

Being socially active is one thing, meeting for the sake of meeting is another.  I try to stay away from meetniks for whom getting together is an end in itself. 

 

 

      


                  PreDictionary. A Lexicon of Neologisms