PERIKITA
an extraordinary girl, who is a great friend and is loved by everyone. and will always stand by your side no matter the circumstances.
PERIKITA by guaguis john August 20, 2006
Words you can keep
perkitas
A baffling mixture of feminine perkiness with smug patriotic newsanchorliness. Possessed by women with high profiles in mainstream media, but usually abandoned for either perkiness or gravitas once the newswoman is experienced enough with both to decide between them. Currently the perkitas ringmaster on television is Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee, who must be blessed by a rogue star, because she remains the only female fake news reporter on a hit comedy show two women created.
(Yes, two women invented The Daily Show; and at least one, I am proud to say, is an out lesbian. Kind of makes you scratch your head when you see how few comediennes are featured on that program.)
Perkitas wavers uneasily and insecurely between all-American cutesyness (or, for our Canadian readers, all North American cutesyness) acceptable to male watchers, and gravitas, which ought to be gender neuter but is not, as many men find it threatening when possessed by a female news reader.
Defining characteristics: a nice round, solid Midwestern broadcast voice; the same suggestive pauses and stresses on certain words and phrases as found in gravitas, such as "terror", "patriotism", "homeland", and "national security"; but the piercing gaze is occasional, fragmented, cautious and discarded, in favor of alluring sidelong gazes and cute, perky nods used as punctuation marks. Usually the exclamation point.
The true connoisseuse of perkitas has shoulder-length, neatly groomed hair with highlights or in a color that is never dark brunette (dark blonde with a touch of auburn seems the going flavor), very average height, rounded, cute features, an upturned Caucasian nose; and an easily-identifiable-as-feminine name like Samantha, Kelly or Katie. Freckles and an air of wholesomeness are definite pluses.
Most news anchorwomen possess gravitas, but to appeal to male viewers they usually discard it in favor of perkiness. Katie Couric's fame shot through the roof when she decided to adopt perkiness. Elizabeth Vargas at ABC opted to enforce her journalism credentials and chose gravitas, as a man would have done. See where she is today.
Men, by the way, can possess perkiness. See below.
Personalities who possess perkitas:
Mega-Everything Oprah Winfrey
First Lady Laura Bush (we're unsure how to read her, as a result)
Closeted TV host Mario Lopez
Comedy Central star Samantha Bee
Chose perkiness:
To a large degree, Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert
TV supernewswoman Katie Couric
Former gymnast Mary Lou Retton, who may have invented it
Singer Marie Osmond
TV hostess Kelly Ripa
TV host Regis Philbin, the King of Male Perkiness
Experimenting with perkiness:
MSNBC news host Tucker Carlson
Former Daily Show alumnus Mo Rocca
Chose gravitas and were promptly exiled:
Former news anchorwoman Linda Ellerbee
Former news anchorwoman Elizabeth Vargas
NSA Secretary Condoleezza Rice, but Bush connection keeps her on party lists
Madeleine Albright
First Dame of the Media Helen Thomas
Basically every smart woman you know who won't sleep with you
(Yes, two women invented The Daily Show; and at least one, I am proud to say, is an out lesbian. Kind of makes you scratch your head when you see how few comediennes are featured on that program.)
Perkitas wavers uneasily and insecurely between all-American cutesyness (or, for our Canadian readers, all North American cutesyness) acceptable to male watchers, and gravitas, which ought to be gender neuter but is not, as many men find it threatening when possessed by a female news reader.
Defining characteristics: a nice round, solid Midwestern broadcast voice; the same suggestive pauses and stresses on certain words and phrases as found in gravitas, such as "terror", "patriotism", "homeland", and "national security"; but the piercing gaze is occasional, fragmented, cautious and discarded, in favor of alluring sidelong gazes and cute, perky nods used as punctuation marks. Usually the exclamation point.
The true connoisseuse of perkitas has shoulder-length, neatly groomed hair with highlights or in a color that is never dark brunette (dark blonde with a touch of auburn seems the going flavor), very average height, rounded, cute features, an upturned Caucasian nose; and an easily-identifiable-as-feminine name like Samantha, Kelly or Katie. Freckles and an air of wholesomeness are definite pluses.
Most news anchorwomen possess gravitas, but to appeal to male viewers they usually discard it in favor of perkiness. Katie Couric's fame shot through the roof when she decided to adopt perkiness. Elizabeth Vargas at ABC opted to enforce her journalism credentials and chose gravitas, as a man would have done. See where she is today.
Men, by the way, can possess perkiness. See below.
Personalities who possess perkitas:
Mega-Everything Oprah Winfrey
First Lady Laura Bush (we're unsure how to read her, as a result)
Closeted TV host Mario Lopez
Comedy Central star Samantha Bee
Chose perkiness:
To a large degree, Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert
TV supernewswoman Katie Couric
Former gymnast Mary Lou Retton, who may have invented it
Singer Marie Osmond
TV hostess Kelly Ripa
TV host Regis Philbin, the King of Male Perkiness
Experimenting with perkiness:
MSNBC news host Tucker Carlson
Former Daily Show alumnus Mo Rocca
Chose gravitas and were promptly exiled:
Former news anchorwoman Linda Ellerbee
Former news anchorwoman Elizabeth Vargas
NSA Secretary Condoleezza Rice, but Bush connection keeps her on party lists
Madeleine Albright
First Dame of the Media Helen Thomas
Basically every smart woman you know who won't sleep with you
"You can't have both gravitas and perkiness. As a woman, you've got to choose."
"Okay, I choose perkitas."
"All right, Samantha."
"Okay, I choose perkitas."
"All right, Samantha."
perkitas by Brandywine September 22, 2006
Related Words
prikita
perikatan nasional
perikatan nasional by pseudophyle September 27, 2023
More from Urban Dictionary
Back when I lived in upstate new york
A meaningless, unimpressive, self-serving introduction. An indicator that the story about to be shared will be pointless and dumb.
Back when I lived in upstate new york, I also had to park on the street - on two occasions, we got enough snow, mixed with just the right plowing, that my car was lifted off the ground from so much snow being jammed underneath it.
Back when I lived in upstate new york by NDcent December 14, 2010
Word of the Day on August 31, 2026
TLDU
Sister: This meeting was to discuss the rough draft of my essay, where we discussed the subsidiary questions I added in my rough draft. We also discussed the relationship between my main title and the real-life situations I chose to use in my essay. We discussed the structure of my essay as well, specifically the Math AOK section and how it relates to the contradiction of the title. This second meeting was particularly helpful in discussing the implications of my essay claims and how to apply the title across various areas of knowledge. There were many sections of the essay that could have been cut down in wordiness and the ways of knowing required further and more in-depth analysis.
Me: Woah! TLDU!
Me: Woah! TLDU!
Salad Days
green inexperienced youthful judgement and cold blooded execution of those judgements.
Rashness with little concern of consequence.
Antony and Cleopatra. William Shakespeare
"My salad days,
When I was green in judgment, cold in blood."
- William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, 1.5
Rashness with little concern of consequence.
Antony and Cleopatra. William Shakespeare
"My salad days,
When I was green in judgment, cold in blood."
- William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, 1.5
Salad Days by GilbyRFC0 October 7, 2011
Word of the Day on August 28, 2026
age gate
An absolutely foolproof way to keep minors from viewing content deemed "too mature" for them to watch.
board chow
A)
The Crud that collects under the keys in a keyboard. Usually more severe in the keyboards of programmers and webmasters as they tend to spend a lot of time at the the computer and thus eat at their desk. Mainly affecting IBM Model M (clicly) style boards.
B)
Can also be used to gross out Non-Techie people
The Crud that collects under the keys in a keyboard. Usually more severe in the keyboards of programmers and webmasters as they tend to spend a lot of time at the the computer and thus eat at their desk. Mainly affecting IBM Model M (clicly) style boards.
B)
Can also be used to gross out Non-Techie people
A)
Bill: want to go to the club?
Bob: No, I've got to clean out my board chow, keys are starting to stick.
B)
Bill: Want to go out to get a bite?
Bob: No, i am just going to have some of my board chow/
Bill: Whats' that?
Bob: The food scraps that collect in my keyboard; Want some?
Bill: *GAG* *HURL* *GAG*
Bill: want to go to the club?
Bob: No, I've got to clean out my board chow, keys are starting to stick.
B)
Bill: Want to go out to get a bite?
Bob: No, i am just going to have some of my board chow/
Bill: Whats' that?
Bob: The food scraps that collect in my keyboard; Want some?
Bill: *GAG* *HURL* *GAG*
board chow by BinaryHackerMan September 3, 2007
Word of the Day on August 26, 2026