Definitions by Mikhail Epstein

chairy 

chairy adj (chair + suffix y) Ð 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 share a household with her.

chairy by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

slavior 

slavior (to (en)slave + suffix ior, like in savior) Ð the prince of this world, the one who imitates the Savior and promises to save people but makes them slaves.

Outwardly the distinction between Savior and Slavior may be as subtle as one letter difference in their names.

For many old-believers, the Slavior is already here, in our very midst, and they refuse to serve this self-appointed sovereign.

slavior by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

webbiage 

webbiage n (web + suffix iage, like in verbiage) Ð excessive use of web tools and design beyond those needed to present a certain content or achieve a certain goal.

Why do you need all this webbiage? Simplify, simplify!

webbiage by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

humy 

humy n (abbreviated and affectionate name of a human being implying smallness) - a human being as a partner or a pet of creatures with artificial intelligence. The term also resonates with "humiliated," the role humans might assume in a technosociety dominated by the humanoid machines.

For somebody as smart as this humy, you have to wonder why it cannot escape death.

humy by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

enjoice 

enjoice smbd into v prefix en + joy; cf. rejoice - using false joy to talk someone into sharing an undesirable task; to entrap somebody by the appearance of joy, to deceive or trick into difficulty.

The prefix en-, like in engage, entrap, embrace, engulf, encircle, envelop, enclose, adds to the base the meaning "surrounding something or somebody or placing it within something."

He looked extremely happy with his winning ticket, and he enjoyced me into entering these sweepstakes, which I would never have done otherwise.

The government tries to enjoice us into global expansion by claiming dubious victories, clearly in violation of international law.

enjoice by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

the booming 1990s, the dooming 2000s 

a nickname for our decade

American culture likes to divide itself into decades: the prosperous fifties, the rebellious sixties, the egoistic seventies, the greedy the eighties, the booming ninetees… Finally, the dooming
2000s

the booming 1990s, the dooming 2000s by Mikhail Epstein October 8, 2003

ifnik (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."

ifnik (if + suffix nik) by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003