74 definition by Peter Kobs

1. The downward transformation of one economic class into another.

2. The gradual descent from relative prosperity to grinding poverty, usually among formerly middle-class families.

1. A rallying cry for people who think the United States has been "taken over" by anti-American socialists, foreigners, liberals, Marxists, minorities, etc.

The phrase is typically used by white male conservatives who oppose any type of change they perceive as a "threat" to their "way of life." Instead of providing a specific plan for improving the country or the government, they imply that the nation has been "kidnapped" by evil people who hate America and want to destroy freedom.

Unanswered questions: A) Who is "we"? B) Where do "we" want to take the country back to?

2. A phrase that implies our current government is somehow "illegitimate" despite the election of November 2008 when a majority of Americans voted for Obama and the current Congress.

1. Someone who lives in a cold region of the world who secretly hopes for Global Warming to accelerate.
2. The anti-scientific feeling you get in Michigan when it snows -- AGAIN -- in late April or early October.
3. A surrender to climatic selfishness at the expense of global environmental collapse.

Someone who sells "certainty" on a particular issue to gain money or power -- usually a politician, pundit or preacher. Certainty Pimps don't like shades of gray because they force people to think for themselves.

1. An average student with insecure parents.

2. The elitist notion that only some children have "gifts" or talents worthy of attention.

3. A hollow form of "self-praise by proxy" that snobby parents use to bolster their social standing.

1. A massive undersea oil plume that threatens to destroy marine life for thousands of square miles, even though it's not visible from the surface.

2. The biggest environmental threat from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

3. Out of sight, out of mind? Not so much.

1. An idealized town, hamlet or village built solely for propaganda purposes -- usually by a totalitarian or autocratic government.

The most famous example is Kijŏng-dong ("Peace Village"), a mostly uninhabited village located in North Korea just beyond the demilitarized zone. It was built in the 1950s to encourage South Koreans to defect to North Korea. (Fat chance.) Officially, Kijŏng-dong is a 200-family collective farming town with all the amenities. In reality, it is used to house DPRK soldiers who patrol the DMZ. The world's tallest flagpole stands nearby.

2. A Propaganda Village is a real-life version of a "Potemkin Village." According to myth, Russian ministry Grigory Potyomkin tried to impress Empress Catherine II in 1787 during her visit to Crimea by building fake peasant buildings (facades only) along her travel route. Historians now believe this was a rumor drummed up by Potyomkin's enemies. What he really did was get local peasants to spruce up their homes in advance of the monarch's visit.