mikhail epstein's definitions

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.

by Mikhail Epstein November 2, 2003

dunch

dunch n (blend of "lunch" and "dinner"; cf. brunch) - a small meal between lunch and dinner in the late afternoon or early evening (about 3- 5 pm.).

This is a more appropriate word for an intermediate meal that once suggested "linner," because it is more similar to lunch than to dinner and is more brief (one syllable). It also follows the model of the neologism for another intermediate (or combined) meal - "brunch."

Dunch usually includes tea or coffee with cookies, sometimes a sandwich.

For tomorrow, I have already scheduled lunch and dinner with my colleagues. Let's have a dunch together.

by Mikhail Epstein November 8, 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

by Mikhail Epstein October 8, 2003

netscapism

netscapism n (net + escapism) - an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities into the electronic network, or virtual world.

In the past, the wild nature and remote countries were the favorite refuge for escapists. Now netscapism, especially among adolescents, has grown into a serious social problem.

by Mikhail Epstein November 7, 2003

uchronia

uchronia n. (Gr. ou, not + Gr. khronos, time; literally "no time"; cf. utopia, "no place) Ð a historical period when "nothing happens," a time of stagnation.

As soon as utopia finds its fulfilment in history, it turns into uchronia, a disruption of history itself.

by Mikhail Epstein November 13, 2003

dreadvertise (verb; dread + advertise)

to advertise by dread, to engage in military propaganda.

There are skilled dreadvertisers in our government.

by Mikhail Epstein October 2, 2003

chronosome

chronosome n (Greek khronos, time + Greek soma, body; cf. chromosome) Ð a unit of historical heredity, in contrast with a chromosome as a unit of biological heredity; a mental code of a historical period that is transmitted to next generations through styles, traditions and unconscious influences ("cultural air").

The chronosomes of the early 20th c. avant-garde have reached the generation of the 1960s and shaped its political views and artistic styles.

Nabokov's novel "Invitation to a Beheading" bears many Kafka's chronosomes, even if the author claims to have never read Kafka.

by Mikhail Epstein November 13, 2003