al-in-chgo's definitions
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Altering or adding to a prior word or term term that must be further defined in the light of later developments or technical innovation.
Example: No one called "World War One" that until there was a "World War Two" with which to contrast it. The going term during the 1914-1918 war and up to 1939 was "The Great War."
Altering or adding to a prior word or term term that must be further defined in the light of later developments or technical innovation.
Example: No one called "World War One" that until there was a "World War Two" with which to contrast it. The going term during the 1914-1918 war and up to 1939 was "The Great War."
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Other employment of term retronym:
Telephone becomes "rotary-dial phone" to distinguish it from the push-button phones that became widespread in the 1970s and early 1980s (although rotary-dial phones still work if all you want to do is place a call and don't need to access features like querying a bank account balance).
Similarly, telephone also becomes "corded phone" to distinguish the traditional hard-wired telephone from those that are wireless in some way, such as cordless phones.
"Regular" coffee to distinguish it from decaffeinated coffee; some people say "caffeinated" coffee but strictly speaking this is a grammatical back-formation, not a retronym, because "to caffeinate" would mean to ADD caffeine to traditional coffee.
Note, though, that Coca-Cola is a "caffeinated" or "caffeine-containing" soft drink in its usual red-can form. Now that there is a Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola "caffeinated" could find use as a retronym for "the real thing."
"Manual" or "standard" or "stick" transmission on a car, none of which terms was necessary before automatic transmissions on cars became widespread and assumed to be the norm.
And, of course, "acoustic" guitar.
Other employment of term retronym:
Telephone becomes "rotary-dial phone" to distinguish it from the push-button phones that became widespread in the 1970s and early 1980s (although rotary-dial phones still work if all you want to do is place a call and don't need to access features like querying a bank account balance).
Similarly, telephone also becomes "corded phone" to distinguish the traditional hard-wired telephone from those that are wireless in some way, such as cordless phones.
"Regular" coffee to distinguish it from decaffeinated coffee; some people say "caffeinated" coffee but strictly speaking this is a grammatical back-formation, not a retronym, because "to caffeinate" would mean to ADD caffeine to traditional coffee.
Note, though, that Coca-Cola is a "caffeinated" or "caffeine-containing" soft drink in its usual red-can form. Now that there is a Caffeine-Free Coca-Cola "caffeinated" could find use as a retronym for "the real thing."
"Manual" or "standard" or "stick" transmission on a car, none of which terms was necessary before automatic transmissions on cars became widespread and assumed to be the norm.
And, of course, "acoustic" guitar.
by al-in-chgo March 6, 2010
Get the retronymmug. "Economic moat" is a term coined by investor Warren Buffet. It means how susceptible a company is to competition by other companies. Coca-Cola and Phillip Morris (Marlboro cigarettes) are companies with wide economic moats because of the popularity and consumer loyalty of their marquee brands. Boeing has a narrow but deep economic moat because its 777 and 787 aircraft are not subject to immediate displacement, but companies like Airbus and Bombardier could play catch-up over the course of several years by developing similar models that would threaten their primacy. That would close the moat.
-- "Give me an example of a company with a wide economic moat."
-- "The local water company, because no competitor can rush right in with a distribution system (pipes)."
-- "Besides, who else is gonna fill that moat? lol."
-- "The local water company, because no competitor can rush right in with a distribution system (pipes)."
-- "Besides, who else is gonna fill that moat? lol."
by al-in-chgo May 3, 2013
Get the economic moatmug. .
A photograph of a male nude showing all his exterior genitalia explicitly, full frontal. This is often referred to as "the full Monty", but that term's chief reference is to male-stripper performances, while "junk shot" refers specifically to photographs or videos.
"Junk" has been slang for "penis and testicles" for a number of years, and "shot" in this sense refers to photography.
A photograph of a male nude showing all his exterior genitalia explicitly, full frontal. This is often referred to as "the full Monty", but that term's chief reference is to male-stripper performances, while "junk shot" refers specifically to photographs or videos.
"Junk" has been slang for "penis and testicles" for a number of years, and "shot" in this sense refers to photography.
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"You know that famous nude magazine for straight women and gay men? Levi Johnston disappointed me. He was the main article, but no junk shot of any kind. The centerfold had him showing his bottom."
"Bummer. Pun very much intended."
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"You know that famous nude magazine for straight women and gay men? Levi Johnston disappointed me. He was the main article, but no junk shot of any kind. The centerfold had him showing his bottom."
"Bummer. Pun very much intended."
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by al-in-chgo March 12, 2010
Get the junk shotmug. "I got so mad I wanted to kick him right in the husballs. But then I realized there'd be nothing to do that evening."
by al-in-chgo February 4, 2013
Get the husballsmug. Typically a Mutual Fund is an investment fund aimed at individual investors sponsored by an investment (or "mutual fund") house like Fidelity, Vanguard or T. Rowe Price. Each fund holds a "market basket" of stocks or bonds and individual investors buy into the fund by buying a share at "Net Asset Value," which is the total worth of the fund's holdings, calculated every day, divided by the number of shares outstanding. In other words, a mutual fund whose portfolio (value of all holdings) is worth a million dollars that has a hundred thousand shares outstanding will value those shares at ten dollars apiece. A typical stock-based mutual fund can earn its investors money in three ways: the dividends and capital gains that stocks pay out, and possible appreciation of the fund value per share.
For an individual investor, the advantage of owning a mutual fund is that s/he achieves diversity -- mutual funds own more than fifty stocks, on average -- that could not be achieved by buying a typical hundred shares of stock in only a few corporations. The disadvantages of such funds are that the "load" (sales commission) involved in buying or selling such funds can be considerable, and all funds incur some sort of service fees; that's how the investment house earns its money. Also, no "equity" or stock-based investment is guaranteed.
For an individual investor, the advantage of owning a mutual fund is that s/he achieves diversity -- mutual funds own more than fifty stocks, on average -- that could not be achieved by buying a typical hundred shares of stock in only a few corporations. The disadvantages of such funds are that the "load" (sales commission) involved in buying or selling such funds can be considerable, and all funds incur some sort of service fees; that's how the investment house earns its money. Also, no "equity" or stock-based investment is guaranteed.
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"My broker wants me to buy shares in something called an "open-end fund" but I don't know what that means."
"That's just a way to describe the majority of mutual funds, which remain open to all new investors who have the money to invest in them."
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"My broker wants me to buy shares in something called an "open-end fund" but I don't know what that means."
"That's just a way to describe the majority of mutual funds, which remain open to all new investors who have the money to invest in them."
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by al-in-chgo March 25, 2010
Get the Mutual Fundmug. A term preferred by some writers in preference to using "homosexual" as a noun.
In a newsmagazine cover article on Gore Vidal in the late 1970s, the celebrated author and essayist explained that, since "homosexual" is used as an adjective ("homosexual fantasy"), the noun form needed something more, well, distinctive and substantive: he used "homosexualist" to describe someone who is gay in practice, or as a state of being.
One doesn't argue lightly with Gore Vidal but there are precedents either way in forming nouns. "Alcoholic drink" / "Joe's an alcoholic," uses "alcoholic" first as an adjective, then as a noun. Similarly, "Green politics" / "Cary has become a Green."
OTOH a medical practitioner of psychiatry is not a "psychiatric" (better used as an adjective = "psychiatric evaluation"), but a "psychiatrist," a description of a person, not a field. One who enjoys sensual things is a "sensualist" but has an appreciation of the sensual.
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In a newsmagazine cover article on Gore Vidal in the late 1970s, the celebrated author and essayist explained that, since "homosexual" is used as an adjective ("homosexual fantasy"), the noun form needed something more, well, distinctive and substantive: he used "homosexualist" to describe someone who is gay in practice, or as a state of being.
One doesn't argue lightly with Gore Vidal but there are precedents either way in forming nouns. "Alcoholic drink" / "Joe's an alcoholic," uses "alcoholic" first as an adjective, then as a noun. Similarly, "Green politics" / "Cary has become a Green."
OTOH a medical practitioner of psychiatry is not a "psychiatric" (better used as an adjective = "psychiatric evaluation"), but a "psychiatrist," a description of a person, not a field. One who enjoys sensual things is a "sensualist" but has an appreciation of the sensual.
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"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexual"; OR
"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexualist."
BUT ALSO: "John is a homosexual," OR
"John is homosexual." -- BUT NOT:
"John is homosexualist."
It is much to be hoped that the definitions above of "same-sex love" or "practitioner of same-sex love" will stand, despite the fact that many right-wingers use it almost as a slur (it can get clinical) and avoid "gay" as a neologism. Don't think it isn't political, either.
GAY: Current idiom in casual speech would have it
"John is gay." Note that "a gay" commodifies John just a little.
See Gay.
"John's love life has been exclusively homosexual since 1993."
"John has an active homosexual love life."
"John is the kind of homosexualist other homosexualists can be proud of."
"John is an out-of-the-closet homosexualist."
BUT ALSO: "John is a homosexual," OR
"John is homosexual." -- BUT NOT:
"John is homosexualist."
It is much to be hoped that the definitions above of "same-sex love" or "practitioner of same-sex love" will stand, despite the fact that many right-wingers use it almost as a slur (it can get clinical) and avoid "gay" as a neologism. Don't think it isn't political, either.
GAY: Current idiom in casual speech would have it
"John is gay." Note that "a gay" commodifies John just a little.
See Gay.
"John's love life has been exclusively homosexual since 1993."
"John has an active homosexual love life."
"John is the kind of homosexualist other homosexualists can be proud of."
by al-in-chgo February 27, 2010
Get the homosexualistmug. Metaphor describing a phenomenon that is inherently painful or repulsive, but from which the spectator can't turn away -- it's as compelling as sucking a tooth socket that recently had a tooth in it.
"Worst. Play. Ever."
"Why did you stay?"
"It was a like sucking a tooth that had just been removed -- I knew it was awful and would stay awful, but I just couldn't stop watching."
"Why did you stay?"
"It was a like sucking a tooth that had just been removed -- I knew it was awful and would stay awful, but I just couldn't stop watching."
by al-in-chgo July 7, 2014
Get the sucking a toothmug.