Neologisms and Portmanteau Words
GPB has for a long time had a tradition of collecting new words, or neologisms. Whilst we have fun and a bit of a laugh doing so, it was not until the end of 2014 that we decided we should start to collate and publish them. So, with a little fanfare (“tra-la”), here is our latest list, showing the new word, the route and the source. We will provide regular updates each time we have a critical mass of new words to add. Some are the merger of two other words (a conjunction called a Portmanteau or blend), others are new acronyms, and some are not even new but were only recently spotted by us.
We particularly thank London’s Evening Standard and The Daily Telegraph and their journalists, as they are a regular source for this material. This table is updated on a regular basis, but if you would like to offer additions, please email contact@gpb.eu, as we would be delighted to add any neologisms that you have (subject to editorial control).
| Neologism (new word) | Route & meaning | Source | Origin or first seen by GPB |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adorkable | Adorable Dork, someone socially inept but charming. | Evening Standard | 22-Oct-14 |
| AIBU? (see also YANBU) | Am I being unreasonable? | Mumsnet website | 26-May-16 |
| Al Desko | From Al Fresco, meaning to eat at your desk. | Evening Standard | 22-Oct-14 |
| Altcoin | Any coin that is not Bitcoin in a digital currency. | Time.com | 03-May-22 |
| Anthropause | The global slowdown of travel and other human activity due to the Covid-19 lockdown. | BBC News | 23-Nov-20 |
| Antifa | A Conglomeration of anti-fascist groups in the USA. Shortlisted for word of the year by the Oxford English Dictionary. | Evening Standard | 15-Dec-17 |
| Anti-mask / Anti-masker | Term for a person who opposes wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic. | The Guardian | 29-Apr-20 |
| Anti-nutrients | Natural or synthetic compounds found in a variety of foods that interfere with the absorption of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, e.g. in the human body. | Anna Easton, GPB team member | 14-Dec-17 |
| Antipointment and Anticipointment | Anticipated disappointment, often after launch of a heavily hyped product or service. | David Sole, School for CEOs | 12-Oct-16 |
| Anti-vaxxer | A person opposed to vaccination. | The Sun | 19-Aug-19 |
| Avoision (as in Tax Avoision) | The confusion or merger of the word's 'avoidance' and 'evasion' by UK politicians before election. | The Daily Telegraph | 18-Apr-15 |
| Bakexit | Bake-off exit by hosts Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc (1) then by Mary Berry (2) | BBC website | 13-Sept-16 (1) 22-Sep-16 (2) |
| Bankfurt | Banking/banks in Frankfurt. | Evening Standard | 16-Feb-16 |
| Based | Meaning agreeable, admirable or worthy of support. | Urban Dictionary | 31-Mar-20 |
| Belfie | A Bum or Bottom Selfie (see Selfie). | Evening Standard | 18-Dec-14 |
| Bikelash | A merge of bike and backlash. Meaning: public reaction to the temporary bike lanes installed during the pandemic. | Cycle Magazine | 10-Feb-21 |
| Bit (usually 8 in a Byte) | Binary Digit, the smallest unit of data in computing, value 0 or 1. Half a byte is a 'nibble' and 4 eight-bit bytes, 32 bits, form a 'bit word'. | Claude Shannon (inventor of information theory) identifies JW Tukey as the creator of 'bit' in his Bell System Technical Journal. | July & Oct 1948 |
| Bitcoin | Digital currency | New Scientist | 29-Jan-15 |
| Bitcoin Cash | A peer-to-peer electronic cash system | Time.com | 03-May-22 |
| Bizcation | Business trip with a vacation. See also Bleisure. | The Times | 09-Dec-19 |
| Black Lives Matter (BLM) | A political and social movement originating among African Americans, emphasizing basic human rights and racial equality for black people and campaigning against various forms of racism. | BlackLivesMatter.com | 13-Jul-13 |
| Bleisure | Business trip with leisure. See also Bizcation. | The Times | 09-Dec-19 |
| Boddler | Baby-toddler aged child who 'boddles' around. | Richard Keith of GPB (and other sources back to 2008) | 02-Mar-17 |
| Bothie | A Selfie and a Youie taken at the same time on the same device. | Evening Standard | 18-Aug-17 |
| Bradigan | Bra-cardigan combo e.g. work by Katie Holmes. | Evening Standard | 19-Dec-19 |
| Bragony | Bra agony (from the wearing of a very uncomfortable bra). | Evening Standard | 12-Aug-16 |
| Brangelina | The couple, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Together from 2005 to 2016. | The Telegraph | 3-Aug-08 |
| Brentry | Merger of Britain and re-entry | Evening Standard | 15-Feb-22 |
| Brexchosis | A feeling of despair among those who voted to stay in the EU. | Boris Johnson in The Telegraph | 15-Apr-19 |
| Brexit (see also Bakexit, Brex-Pitt, Brixit, Frexit, Grexit and Nexit) | British exit from the EU. | Evening Standard | 03-Mar-15 |
| Brexiteer | Brexit and Musketeer combined. | Evening Standard | 09-Mar-16 |
| Brexit-moaners (see also Marmoaners) | People who supported remain who are now moaning about the negative effects of Brexit. | Evening Standard | 14-Oct-16 |
| Brexmas (Happy) | Happy Christmas for Brexiteers. | Evening Standard | 28-Oct-16 |
| Brexodus | Brexit Exodus by EU people who live in Kensington & Chelsea in London. | Evening Standard | 12-Aug-16 |
| Brexperts | Brexit Experts. | Evening Standard | 19-Jul-16 |
| Brex-Pitt | Referring to the divorce of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. "Brexit" by Brad Pitt. | The Daily Telegraph | 20-Sep-16 |
| BRIC | An acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China, considered the greatest long-term growth economies at the time. | Jim O'Neil, Goldman Sachs in his paper: "Building Better Global Economic BRICs" | 30-Nov-01 |
| Brixit | British exit (from the EU). Term coined by Alastair Newton of Nomura. | Bagehot in The Economist, then August 2012 Nomura research note. | 21-Jun-12 |
| Broadbandits | Cyber-criminals, ‘threatening the health of an increasingly digital global economy’. | US book - 'Broadbandits: Inside the $750 Billion Telecom Heist’ - Wiley; 1st edition | 15-May-03 |
| Broflake | A derogatory term for someone, usually a white male, easily offended by views which conflict with their own world view. Shortlisted for word of the year by the Oxford English Dictionary. | Evening Standard | 20-Dec-17 |
| Bushfires | An uncontrolled fire in the bush. | Collins Dictionary | 1849 |
| Cameroonia | A region of west London full of David Cameron types. | Evening Standard | 03-Mar-15 |
| Cancel culture | The withdrawing of support from public figures whose words and actions were considered socially unacceptable. | The Telegraph | 30-Jul-20 |
| Cathing | To use a catheter when gaming | Rory Pearson | 01-Mar-22 |
| Cheugy | A pejorative word to describe lifestyle trends associated with the early 2010s and millennials. | Guardian “Weekend” magazine article | 17-Jul-21 |
| Chickenham Palace | Chicken Coup and Buckingham Palace | Winston Churchill via Boris Johnson's biography, p 144 | 25-Dec-14 |
| Chuggers/Chugging | Charity muggers / mugging - street fundraisers with overly aggressive tactics. | The Daily Telegraph | 10-Mar-15 |
| Cli-fi | A Climate change Sci-fi movie. | CAM Magazine | 22-Oct-14 |
| Clintipathy | Clinton antipathy (of Hillary now, formerly Bill). | Time magazine | 02-Nov-16 |
| Clownfall | Blend of Clown and downfall, made in reference to Boris Johnson’s resignation as PM | The Economist | 09-Jul-22 |
| Coinbase | A popular centralized cryptocurrency exchange | Times.com | 03-May-22 |
| Copypasta | Use a block of text that has been copied and pasted from elsewhere. | BBC News | 19-Mar-19 |
| Corbynomics | Jeremy Corbyn (appointed Labour leader in 2015) and economics. See also Trumponomics. | The Daly Telegraph et al | 15-Dec-15 |
| Coronavirus | A type of virus that can cause illnesses such as the common cold, or serious diseases such as SARS and COVID-19. | The Independent | 17-Nov-19 |
| Corporate wokeism | The product of self-interest intermingled with the appearance of pursuing social justice. | The Economist, Vivek Ramaswamy - a former biotechnology executive and author of “Woke, Inc.” | 4-Sep-21 |
| Covid-19 | A potentially severe, primarily respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus and characterised by fever, coughing, and shortness of breath. In some patients, the disease can also damage major organs, as the heart or kidney. | World Health Organisation (WHO) | 11-Feb-20 |
| Covididiot | A person who refuses to take the necessary precautions designed to prevent the spread of coronavirus. | Urban Dictionary | 23-Mar-20 |
| Cryptocurrency | Digital currency | Oxford Dictionary | 17-May-22 |
| Cyberchondria | From cyber and hypochondria. Comes from webpages that can estimate your state of health. E.g. ubble.co.uk | The Daily Telegraph | 04-Jun-15 |
| Deepfake | A video where artificial intelligence and deep learning – an algorithmic learning method used to train computers – has been used to make a person appear to say something they have not. | The Independent | 27-May-21 |
| Deeping | Word used to describe their parents’ proclivity for attributing hidden meaning and subtext to behaviours that, in the eyes of Gen Z, have none | Zara News | 04 -Jul-22 |
| Demisexual | Demi (half) and sexual; needs to have emotional connection before any sexual feelings can appear. | Evening Standard | 22-Sep-17 |
| Dontopedalogy | Dont=mouth, pedo=foot; putting foot in mouth (metaphorically), as self-confessed by HRH Duke of Edinburgh. | Evening Standard | 14-Oct-16 |
| Downblousing | Photos down a blouse | Daily Telegraph | 07-Jul-22 |
| Droniquette | Drone, Etiquette, good etiquette when flying a drone device. | Evening Standard | 09-Dec-14 |
| Ethereum | The second largest cryptocurrency by trade volume, Ethereum is a crypto network and software platform | Time.com | 03-May-22 |
| FANG | An acronym for the four great growth US companies Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google (not Apple). | Evening Standard | 25-Jan-16 |
| Fanzine | A magazine, usually produced by amateurs, for fans of a particular performer, group, or form of entertainment. | Oxford English Dictionary | 1940s |
| Farshoring | Offshoring far away. See also nearshoring. | Evening Standard | 05-Jan-18 |
| Fatberg | Fat and Iceberg, when fat collects in sewage systems to such a large extent they block the pipes, e.g. a 140-ton mass, 2 football pitches long, under Whitechapel, London. | Evening Standard | 14-Sep-17 |
| Feminocracy | Feminine meritocracy. | Evening Standard | 03-Aug-16 |
| Fitspiration | Using devices as inspiration to get fit. | Evening Standard | 25-Jun-15 |
| Flexitarian | Someone who is flexible about whether they are a Vegetarian or not. | BBC Radio 4 | 31-Mar-18 |
| FOMO | An acronym meaning Fear Of Missing Out. | Evening Standard | 28-Nov-14 |
| Fomosapien / FOMO | A person who is driven by the fear of missing out. | Alastair Winter, Economic Insights - originally a cartoon by B.Rich Hedgeye. | 10-Jan-21 |
| Foodstagramming | Food Instagram pictures. | The Daily Telegraph | 02-Nov-16 |
| Frankenbug | Frankenstein Bug. | Evening Standard | 03-Aug-16 |
| Freemium | A free entry level version of an App which has pay for use premium level or extra features. E.g. SwiftKey. | Evening Standard | 12-Feb-16 |
| Frenemies | A blend of Friend and enemy. | Evening Standard p16, from Ken Livingston's topic for his speech in Moscow on 10th Dec 2015. Also from Wikipedia: a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry. | 09-Dec-15 |
| Frexit | French exit (from the EU). | Marine Le Pen, France's National Front Leader, in BBC News et al | 24-Jun-16 |
| Furbish | The language spoken by Furby, an American electronic robot toy sold from 1998-2000. | Evening Standard | 28-Nov-14 |
| Furlough | A temporary laying-off of employees, usually because there is insufficient work to occupy them. | Rishi Sunak, BBC News | 19-Mar-20 |
| Gaslighting | Psychological coercion used by abusers in relationships | Evening Standard p11 and Merryam-Webster Dictionary | 28 Nov 22 |
| Genderquake | Psychological coercion used by abusers in relationships. | Evening Standard | 20-Dec-17 |
| Glamping | Glamorous camping. See also Gramping. | The Times | 09-Dec-19 |
| Globish | English spoken by others around the globe: "Syntactically correct but with no understand of the assumptions shared by British speakers." | The Daily Telegraph | 20-Aug-19 |
| Gramping | Camping with your grandparents. See also Glamping. | The Times | 09-Dec-19 |
| Gratistic | Greek statistic. | Evening Standard | 13-Jul-15 |
| Grexit | Greek exit from the EU. | Citigroup's Chief Analysts Willem H. Buiter and Ebrahim Rahbari | 06-Feb-12 |
| Greynaissance | Grey Renaissance, e.g. Matt LeBlanc (on Top Gear), John Major (on the EU Brexit debate). | The Daily Telegraph | 09-Jun-16 |
| Grolar (Bear) (aka Pizzly Bear etc) | Grizzly and Polar Bear ursid hybrid species found in the wild and captivity. | NBC News | 11-May-06 |
| Hangry | Hungry angry; the anger you feel due to lack of food. An irritable state of mind, that can only be cured by eating. | The London Magazine and Shardai Goodridge | Dec-92 and 20 July 2020 |
| Hashter | Hashtag Banter | Twitter (@CUWBC) | 26-Mar-17 |
| Hepeating | A man (he) repeating what a woman has just said, but getting a better reaction. | Evening Standard | 05-Dec-17 |
| Hoardrobe | Hoarding clothes and wardrobe. | Evening Standard | 05-Jan-18 |
| Hotspot (see Notspot) | A place where mobile phone or Wi-Fi signals are good. | Various | 1998 |
| Housebarrassment | To feel unease or embarrassment at the thought of others seeing your home. | Wickes | Dec-19 |
| Investomer | A business customer who is also an investor in the business. | New words academic | 2000 |
| Jarvanka | Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump (aka Habi home of all bad ideas). | Evening Standard | 21-Mar-19 |
| JOMO | Acronym for 'Joy Of Missing Out', the pleasure of what you're doing right now, and not worrying that other people are having more fun. | Anil Dash (a blogger) | 2012 |
| Keyworkers | Key workers definition expanded to include: health and social care workers, teachers and childcare workers, public safety and national security workers, transport workers, staff needed for utilities and communication services, those involved in the production, processing, distribution and sale of food and finally, retail workers. | Department of Health | 04-Jun-20 |
| Kimojie | Kim Kardashian emoji. | Evening Standard | 18-Aug-18 |
| Klop/ped | A method using a Treasury tag to hold papers together. | Winston Churchill via Boris Johnson's biography, p145 | 25-Dec-14 |
| Kompromat | Compromising material or damaging information about a politician or other public figure, usually Russian, used to create negative publicity, for blackmail, or for ensuring loyalty. | Wikipedia | 22-Dec-17 |
| Ladylounge/r | Lady lounging about on an underground train. | Evening Standard | 09-Jan-15 |
| Larping | Life Action Role Playing. | Evening Standard | 19-Feb-16 |
| Liverchester | Manchester - Liverpool, the term coined by Jim O'Neill earlier in 2015 for the engine of the North of England. See also Manpool | Evening Standard | 10-Jun-15 |
| Lockdown | The imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction, and access to pubic spaces. | The Guardian | 1973 and 23 March 2020 |
| Mail-in | Something conducted or returned by mail - a vote or questionnaire. | Collins Dictionary | 1933 |
| Malus | A negative bonus. "Bonus-Malus" (good-bad) is a term in some contracts. | Lexico | 1700s |
| Manpool | Manchester - Liverpool, the term coined by Jim O'Neill earlier in 2015 for the engine of the North of England. See also Liverchester. | Evening Standard | 10-Jun-15 |
| Mansplaining | A man explaining, usually patronisingly, to a woman. | Evening Standard | 05-Dec-17 |
| Manspreader | Man spreading his legs wide on an underground train. | Evening Standard | 09-Jan-15 |
| Maritorious | Blend of Matrimonial and meritorious, a type of devotion to your husband | Wiktionary | 08-Jul-22 |
| Marmoaners | Marmite-moaners; people who moaned when Marmite was removed from Tesco's shelves (briefly). | Evening Standard | 14-Oct-16 |
| Marmocrats | Marmite technocrats, who argued about the merits of pricing of Marmite. | Evening Standard | 14-Oct-16 |
| Mascallergy | The fear of wearing a mask. | GPB | 27-Jul-20 |
| Mascne | Mask acne - acne caused by wearing a mask. | New York Times | 17-Jun-20 |
| Maskhol | Mask arsehole - someone who refuses to wear a face mask. | GPB client | 27-Jul-20 |
| Mask-shaming | Criticising or confronting someone who is not wearing a face covering. | Macmillan Dictionary | 20-Jun-20 |
| May-hem | After Theresa May, UK PM, meaning to be permanently thwarted. | Evening Standard | 15-Dec-17 |
| Meatopia | A meat festival. Began modestly in 2004 in NY as a birthday party for the late Josh Ozersky. | Evening Standard | 29-May-19 |
| Meme stocks | Stocks which become inflated following a social-media frenzy | The Economist | 3-Aug-22 |
| Meninist | Applies to both a male feminist and someone complaining about men's rights in a similar way to feminists. | Evening Standard | 21-Mar-19 |
| Metreat | A treat for me (holiday for oneself only). | Evening Standard | 20-Jun-16 |
| Milkshake Duck | Phenomena that are initially perceived as positive, soon after revealed as deeply flawed. Shortlisted for word of the year by the Oxford English Dictionary. | Evening Standard | 15-Dec-17 |
| Mohosexual | Moho (more and more) and sexual; someone who wants sex with as many people as possible, the mo hos the better. | Evening Standard | 22-Sep-17 |
| Moon-shot | Formerly - the launching of a spacecraft or rocket to the moon. | Metro | 1955-60 and 10 September 2020 |
| Motel | Motorway-hotel. See also Rotel. | First built in USA in 1925. Seen by this editor as a child in 1960s in Scotland | Early 1960s |
| Natal females | People who were born female, but may now be female or pangender (see below). | Evening Standard | 11-May-16 |
| Natal Males | People who were born male, but may now be female or pangender (see below). | Evening Standard | 11-May-16 |
| Nearshoring | Offshoring but nearby. See also Farshoring. | Evening Standard | 05-Jan-18 |
| Nervosity | A blend of nervousness and verbosity, the former causing the latter. | Christoffer Davidsson, Campbell Lutyens | 10-Dec-15 |
| Neverendum | A referendum that never ends. | Evening Standard | 17-May-16 |
| Newstalgia | New nostalgia. | The Economist. 1843rd Edition | Oct/Nov 2019 |
| Newszine | A fanzine that only publishes news. | 12-Jan-22 | |
| Nexit | Netherlands exit. | Geert Wilders, the Leader of Netherlands - Party for Freedom (PVV) | 24-Jun-16 |
| Notspot and Partial Notspot (see Hotspot) | A place where mobile phone or Wi-Fi signals are not good (NotSpot), or sometimes not good (Partial NotSpot). | The Daily Telegraph | 26-Nov-14 |
| Olympicopolis | Olympic, Metropolis, meaning the site where the London 2012 Olympic Games were held. | Evening Standard | 12-Dec-14 |
| Orthorexia | Over exercising combined with excessively healthy eating. Ortho- and anorexia. | Evening Standard | 25-Jun-15 |
| Pandemic | An occurrence of a disease that affects many people over a very wide area. | World Health Organisation (WHO) | 1800's 11-Mar-2020 |
| Pangender | People who are neither male nor female but 'non-binary' or 'gender fluid'. | Evening Standard | 11-May-16 |
| Paralympics | Parallel Olympics. | 1st Paralympic Games, July 1960, Rome | 22-Sep-16 |
| Penguincubators | Book vending machines at Exeter Railway station | Daily Telegraph Features, Celia Walde | 28 Mar 2023 |
| Persisterhood | Persist-sisterhood. | Evening Standard | 01-Mar-17 |
| Phablet | Phone-tablet. | Evening Standard | 14-Oct-16 |
| Phishing | A homophone of fishing, sending emails purporting to be from reputable people, a form of fraud. Variants include Spear and Clone Phishing, and Whaling. | The Daily Telegraph | 02-Nov-16 |
| Phonehenge | Phone-Stonehenge (a very old mobile phone, e.g. a Nokia that does not have emojis). | The Daily Telegraph | 02-Nov-16 |
| Photobomb | Photo, bombing. Getting yourself in someone else's photo, usually without their knowledge. | Evening Standard | 22-Oct-14 |
| Phubbed | Phone-snubbed by someone looking at their phone rather than conversing with you. | David Sole, School for CEOs | 12-Oct-16 |
| Pingdemic | The merger of ‘Pinged’ (by the NHS Covid-19 App) and ‘Pandemic’, describing the seemingly excessive number of times that people aere pinged by his app for being close to someone who has tested positive for Covid-19. | BBC 1 News | 19-Jul-21 |
| Politie | Tie as worn by a politician e.g. Nigel Farage. | The Daily Telegraph | 25-Nov-14 |
| Poshstock | Posh Woodstock, a reference to Cornbury Music Festival, now ion the Great Tew Estate, ending in 2017 after 14 years and attended by leading public figures. | Evening Standard | 27-Oct-16 |
| Pre-load | To load up with drink before going out for a party. | Evening Standard | 22-Oct-14 |
| Presentician | Presenter politician. E.g. Nadine Dorres, Nigel Farage. | BBC Radio 4 (11.25am) | 11 Feb 22 |
| QAnon | An unfounded conspiracy theory that says that President Trump is waging a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping paedophiles in government, business and the media. | BBC News | 02-Aug-18 |
| Quarantini | A cocktail that can be made with things you've already got in your house, and is best enjoyed with a quarantine partner or neighbour. | New York Post | 17-Mar-20 |
| Quarantinitis | An inflammatory response to an otherwise negligible issue due to being quarantined too long e.g. "my wife and I argued over letting the dog outside because we both have quarantinitis". | Urban Dictionary | 30-Mar-20 |
| Queuetopia | Combination of 2 words, Queue and Utopia. | Winston Churchill via Boris Johnson's biography, p 144 | 25-Dec-14 |
| Rat-licker | Someone who does not wear an anti-covid viral mask. | Urban Dictionary | 15-Aug-20 |
| Ricardians | Supporters of King Richard III (reinterred 26th March 2015). | The Daily Telegraph | 23-Mar-15 |
| Rizz | Short form of Charisma (using the letters ris from that word) | The Slang Dictionary, then Oxford University Press Word of the Year 2023 | 6-Feb-23 |
| Rotel | Rolling hotel (with seats and beds). | Google search | 28-Dec-19 |
| Sansibilities | Rights without (sans) Responsibilities. | Andrew Richards, Ferring Pharmaceuticals | 11-Jul-16 |
| Sapiosexual | Sapiens and sexual; one who finds their partner's mind their most attractive attribute above and before their physical attributes. Prevalent on dating apps. | Evening Standard | 22-Sep-17 |
| Scambassador | A scammer who pretends to be an ambassador. | National Trading Standards, published in Daily Telegraph | 31-Mar-18 |
| Scentologist | Scent (fragrance) expert. | GPB - Richard Keith | 16-Sep-16 |
| Scexit | Scottish Brexit (from the rest of the UK). | The Daily Telegraph, | 20-Nov-19 |
| Selfie | A photo taken of oneself, usually on a smart camera-phone. | Various: Internet (e.g. Myspace, forums) TV and Press. | 13-Sep-02 |
| Sellebrity | Using celebrities to sell products and services, where the celeb gets closely associated with the item e.g. George Clooney with Nespresso and Kendall Jenner with Pepsi. Also the style model for Mad Men's Don Draper. | Source: George Lois's book $ellebrity (published 5 March 2003) Also the movie $ellebrity in 2012 (starred Jennifer Aniston) Mad Men was broadcast July 2007 to May 2015 | 5-Mar-03 |
| Shero | She hero. | BBC Radio 4 7.35pm | 10-Oct-19 |
| Showmance | Show business romance, usually staged e.g. between two movie stars on the Red Carpet. | The Daily Telegraph | 25-Nov-14 |
| Sittervising | Letting kids play by themselves while adults do their own thing | The Daily Telegraph, Features Celia Walden, p7 | 10 Jan 23 |
| Slofies | Slow Selfies. | Apple iPhone 11 launch, Silicon Valley | 10-Sep-19 |
| Smishing | SMS-text Phising (see Phising), a form of fraud. | Three.co.uk | 27-May-20 |
| Smize | To smile with your eyes. | Tyra Banks - Season 13, episode 3 | 16-Sep-09 |
| Snapplause | Clicking of fingers instead of applause. | Evening Standard | 07-Apr-18 |
| Spamalot | SPAM (possibly means Shoulder of Pork & Ham) and Camelot. | Monty Python; Chicago Shubert Theatre | 21-Dec-04 |
| Splinternet (the) | The internet divided between East and West. | The Daily Telegraph Business section p2 Gary white | 11-Oct-19 |
| Spuddle | a) to make a fuss about trivial things b) to work feebly and ineffectively because your mind is elsewhere, or you haven’t quite woken up yet c) a feeble movement | a) yourdictionary.com b) Susie Dent, Tweet c) Dictionary.com | 25-Nov-20 |
| Stablecoins | Type of cryptocurrency pegged to other assets to reduce their volatility | The Economist | 13-May-22 |
| Stan | Made famous by Eminem's 2000 hit song Stan. Used to describe obsessive / stalker fans. | Eminem Stan | 21-Nov-00 |
| Starchitect | Star architect. E.g. Santiago Calatrava for his visionary building next to the O2 dome, Peninsula Place. | Evening Standard | 2-Feb-2017 |
| Staycation | A holiday in which you stay at home and visit places near to where they reside. Can also refer to a holiday in your own country. | Washington Post | 04-Aug-05 |
| Stuffocation | Suffocation from excess stuff, also the name of a new book on the subject. | BBC Radio 4 | 07-Feb-15 |
| Super-spreader | A person who transmits an infectious disease to a very large number of people. | The Guardian | 1907 10-Mar-2020 |
| Support bubbles | A close support network between a household with only one adult or a household with one adult and one or more people who were under the age of 18. | Gov.uk | 12-Jun-20 |
| Tech-life balance | Technical, work-life balance, the time spent on personal computing devices (e.g. mobile phone) vs. away from them. | Evening Standard | 28-Nov-14 |
| TeePartialism (or Tee-Partialism) | Reducing the volume and/or the frequency of alcohol consumption. Contrasts with all-or-nothing approaches like teetotalism. | Unlimited Group | 14-May-19 |
| Telefangelist | Television, Evangelist. A member of the public who rants on TV (e.g. about a football club manager), and becomes famous for doing so. | The Daily Telegraph | 10-Dec-14 |
| Textonyn | Text, synonym. 1 of 2 words generated by pressing the same mobile phone key combinations. | Evening Standard | 22-Oct-14 |
| Three-peat | What Usain Bolt will attempt in Rio Olympics, winning 100m, 200m, and 4*100m relay at his third games. | Evening Standard | 11-May-16 |
| Trilemma | Three-way dilemma between dietary choice, human health and the health of the planet. | Quorn plc Annual report 2015 p3. | 17-Jun-15 |
| Triphibian | Tri and Amphibian, a Churchill word to describe Lord Mountbatten, who was a military leader on land and sea and in the air. | Winston Churchill via Boris Johnson's biography, p 145 | 25-Dec-14 |
| Trumpkin | Trump Pumpkin, an extra scary version popular for Halloween 2016. | The Daily Telegraph | 28-Oct-16 |
| Trumpomics | Donald Trump (USA Republican candidate 2015/6) and economics. See also Corbynomics. | The Daly Telegraph et al | 15-Dec-15 |
| Trumption | Trump-Gumption. Baseless self-belief. | Evening Standard | 15-Dec-17 |
| Tweakment | Tweak - treatment , usually age related, e.g facelifts. | Daily Telegraph Briony Gordon, Features p4 | 13 Feb 222 |
| Twerking | Twisting and jerking, or from working. Dancing in a sexually provocative manner, usually then posted on the internet. | Evening Standard | 22-Oct-14 |
| Twindemic | Possibility of a severe flu season alongside increases in cases of Covid-19 | Daily Telegraph | 18-Jun-22 |
| Twinfluencer | Twins who influence on social media, such as Jedward or Ayse and Zehila Clarke. | Evening Standard | 20-Aug-19 |
| Twitterati | People who tweet on Twitter a lot. | Evening Standard | 27-Nov-14 |
| Unsordid | Un and Sordid, Churchill's word to describe the Lend-Lease deal. | Winston Churchill via Boris Johnson's biography, p 145 | 25-Dec-14 |
| Unvironmental | Not environmental | 'Diddly Squat' by Jeremy Clarkson, 2021, chapter called 'July' | 2021 |
| Upskirting | Photos up a skirt | Collins Dictionary | 08-Jul-22 |
| Vape/vaping | Vapour, inhaling. Taking in smoke from an e-cigarette. | Evening Standard | 22-Oct-14 |
| Veganuary | Vegan January - a diet for the post-Christmas period. | Piccadilly Line tube train advert | 20-Dec-17 |
| Vishing | Voice Phishing, using scam phone calls to trick people to reveal bank details and/or send money. | BBC News online | 06-Jul-15 |
| Volun-tourism | Volunteer tourism in overseas orphanages. | JK Rowling on the BBC website | 25-Oct-19 |
| Wackaging | Wacky Packaging. | BBC Room 101 | 07-Sep-18 |
| Wenglish | Mixed Welsh-English words and phrases e.g. "Frages" (for ages), and "beyond" (extremely). | BBC Radio 4 | 07-Feb-15 |
| WFH | Work from home. | The Guardian | 12-Apr-20 |
| Woke | Originally: well-informed, up-to-date Now: alert to racial or social discrimination and injustice | Oxford English Dictionary | 25-Jun-17 |
| Workcation | A working vacation. | Collins Dictionary | 04-May-20 |
| YANBU (see also AIBU?) | You are not being unreasonable acronym. | Mumsnet website | 26-May-16 |
| Youie | The opposite of a Selfie i.e. a conventional photograph. | Evening Standard | 18-Aug-18 |
| Youthquake | A significant cultural political or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people. Winner of word of the year, awarded by the Oxford English Dictionary. | Diana Vreeland, editor in chief, American Vogue, 1965. Evening Standard | 1965 15-Dec-17 |
| Zoombombing | Zoom is a digital platform for online meetings. As a result of the Covid-19 virus, Zoom is now widely used in social and work settings. Its early versions allowed for low security, and often meetings were "bombed" - disrupted by uninvited people who put up pornographic images or used profanities. | Daily Telegraph | 02-Apr-20 |
