To my ear, “what’s not to like?”\u00a0 is an old Yinglish phrase–yes, all English words but in the syntax of Eastern European Jews who landed on the Lower East Side. “It’s a homemade kosher dill pickle, so what’s not to like?”<\/p>\n
Now, “what’s not to like?” gets an upgrade. It’s officially an English expression–included in this year’s list of Oxford English Dictionary new words, new phrases, and re-purposing of old words, additions to the mother of all lexicons. So what’s not to like?<\/p>\n
Here’s a sampling:<\/p>\n
<\/strong> big media <\/strong>n. [treated as sing. or pl.] the main means of mass communication (i.e., television, radio, and the press), as opposed to blogs or other personal websites.<\/p>\n bromance <\/strong>n. informal<\/em> a close but nonsexual relationship between two men. carbon credit <\/strong>n. <\/strong>a permit that allows a country or organization to produce a certain amount of carbon emissions and that can be traded if the full allowance is not used. <\/strong><\/p>\n carbon offsetting <\/strong>n. the counteracting of carbon dioxide emissions with an equivalent reduction of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.<\/p>\n cloud computing <\/strong>n. the practice of using a network of remote servers hosted on the Internet to store, manage, and process data, rather than a local server or a personal computer.<\/p>\n credit crunch<\/strong> n. a sudden sharp reduction in the availability of money or credit from banks and other lenders: the beleaguered company has become the latest victim of the credit crunch<\/em>.<\/p>\n defriend <\/strong>v. another term for unfriend<\/a>.<\/p>\n eggcorn <\/strong>n. a word or phrase that results from a mishearing or misinterpretation of another, an element of the original being substituted for one that sounds very similar or identical (e.g., tow the line<\/em> instead of toe the line<\/em>). exit strategy <\/strong>n. a preplanned means of extricating oneself from a situation that is likely to become difficult or unpleasant.<\/p>\n gal pal<\/strong> n. informal<\/em> a female friend.<\/p>\n green audit<\/strong> n. an assessment of a business in terms of its impact on the environment.<\/p>\n green-collar <\/strong>adj. denoting or relating to employment concerned with products and services designed to improve the quality of the environment: green-collar jobs<\/em>. hashtag <\/strong>n. (on social networking websites such as Twitter<\/a>) a hash or pound sign (#) used to identify a particular keyword or phrase in a posting.<\/p>\n hater <\/strong>n. a person who greatly dislikes a specified person or thing: a man hater<\/em> | he\u2019s not a hater of modern music<\/em>. hockey mom <\/strong>n. informal<\/em> a mother who devotes a great deal of time and effort to supporting her children\u2019s participation in ice hockey.<\/p>\n homeshoring <\/strong>n. the practice of transferring employment that was previously carried out in a company\u2019s office or factory to employees\u2019 homes. homesourcing <\/strong>n. another term for homeshoring. hypermiling<\/a> <\/strong>n. the practice of making adjustments to a vehicle or using driving techniques that will maximize the vehicle\u2019s fuel economy. Interweb <\/strong>n. humorous<\/em> the Internet.<\/p>\n LBD <\/strong>n. (pl. LBDs<\/strong>) informal<\/em> little black dress: you can\u2019t go wrong with an LBD for premi\u00e8res or parties.<\/em> lipstick lesbian <\/strong>n. informal<\/em> a lesbian who favors a glamorous, traditionally feminine style.<\/p>\n LMAO <\/strong>abbr. vulgar slang<\/em> laughing my ass off.<\/p>\n megachurch <\/strong>n. a church with an unusually large congregation, typically one preaching a conservative or evangelical form of Christianity.<\/p>\n parkour <\/strong>(also parcour<\/strong>) n. the activity or sport of running through an area, typically in an urban environment, using acrobatic techniques to negotiate obstacles. paywall <\/strong>n. (on a website) an arrangement whereby access is restricted to users who have paid to subscribe to the site.<\/p>\n quantitative easing<\/strong> n. Finance <\/em>the introduction of new money into the money supply by a central bank.<\/p>\n social media <\/strong>n. [treated as sing. or pl.] websites and applications used for social networking.<\/p>\n social networking<\/strong> n. the use of dedicated websites and applications to communicate informally with other users, or to find people with similar interests to oneself.<\/p>\n staycation <\/strong>n. informal<\/em> a vacation spent in one\u2019s home country rather than abroad, or one spent at home and involving day trips to local attractions. steampunk <\/strong>n. a genre of science fiction that typically features steam-powered machinery rather than advanced technology.<\/p>\n tag cloud <\/strong>n. a visual depiction of the word content of a website, or of user-generated tags attached to online content, typically using color and font size to represent the prominence or frequency of the words or tags depicted.<\/p>\n tramp stamp<\/strong> n. informal <\/em>a tattoo on a woman\u2019s lower back.<\/p>\n truthiness <\/strong>n. informal<\/em> the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true. TTYL <\/strong>abbr. informal<\/em> talk to you later: Anyway, gotta run now! TTYL<\/em>.<\/p>\n unfriend<\/a> <\/strong>v. [with obj.] informal<\/em> remove (someone) from a list of friends or contacts on a social networking site<\/a>: she broke up with her boyfriend, but she hasn\u2019t unfriended him.<\/em><\/p>\n vuvuzela <\/strong>n. S. African<\/em> a long horn blown by fans at soccer matches. wardrobe malfunction <\/strong>n. informal, humorous<\/em> an instance of a person accidentally exposing an intimate part of their body as a result of an article of clothing slipping out of position.<\/p>\n waterboarding <\/strong>n. an interrogation technique simulating the experience of drowning, in which a person is strapped, face up, to a board that slopes downward at the head, while large quantities of water are poured over the face into the breathing passages.<\/p>\n webisode <\/strong>n. an episode, esp. from a television series, or short promotional film made for viewing online. zombie bank<\/strong> n. informal <\/em>a financial institution that is insolvent but that continues to operate through government support.<\/p>\n <\/strong> my bad <\/strong>informal <\/em>used to acknowledge responsibility for a mistake: Sorry about the confusion. It\u2019s my bad.<\/em><\/p>\n the new black<\/strong> a color that is currently so popular that it rivals the traditional status of black as the most reliably fashionable color: brown is the new black this season.<\/em><\/p>\n like herding cats <\/strong>informal <\/em>used to refer to a difficult or impossible task, typically an attempt to organize a group of people: controlling the members of this expedition is like herding cats.<\/em><\/p>\n cop to <\/strong>accept or admit to: there are a lot of people who don\u2019t cop to their past.<\/em><\/p>\n what\u2019s not to like?<\/strong> informal <\/em>used as a rhetorical expression of approval or satisfaction: cleaner air, cooler temperatures, and mountain views\u2014what\u2019s not to like?<\/em><\/p>\n share a moment <\/strong>informal <\/em>experience a joint sensation of heightened emotion: Alan and Barbara shared a moment yesterday after the memorial service<\/em>.<\/p>\n talk the talk<\/strong> informal <\/em>speak fluently or convincingly about something or in a way intended to please or impress others: we may not look like true rock jocks yet, but we talk the talk<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/strong> channel<\/strong> emulate or seem to be inspired by: Meg Ryan plays Avery as if she\u2019s channeling Nicole Kidman.<\/em><\/p>\n cougar<\/strong> informal<\/em> an older woman seeking a sexual relationship with a younger man.<\/p>\n flyover<\/strong> informal, derogatory<\/em> denoting central regions of the US regarded as less significant than the East or West coasts: \u00a0the flyover states.<\/em><\/p>\n friend<\/strong> noun \u2013 a contact associated with a social networking website. hate<\/strong> (hate on<\/strong>) informal<\/em> express strong dislike for; criticize or abuse: I can\u2019t hate on them for trying something new.<\/em><\/p>\n heart<\/strong> like very much; love: I totally heart this song.<\/em><\/p>\n made man<\/strong> a man who has been formally inducted as a full member of the Mafia.<\/p>\n meme<\/strong> an image, video, phrase, etc., that is passed electronically from one Internet user to another.<\/p>\n nimrod<\/strong> informal<\/em> an inept person. <\/em><\/p>\n own<\/strong> informal<\/em> utterly defeat or humiliate: yeah right, she totally owned you, man. <\/em><\/p>\n pimp<\/strong> informal<\/em> make (something) more showy or impressive.<\/p>\n poke<\/strong> (on the social networking site Facebook) attract the attention of (another member of the site) by using the \u2018poke\u2019 facility. <\/em><\/p>\n riff<\/strong> perform a monologue or spoken improvisation on a particular subject: he also riffs on racism and the economy. <\/em><\/p>\n rock<\/strong> informal<\/em> wear (a garment) or affect (an attitude or style), esp. in a confident or flamboyant way: she was rocking a clingy little leopard-skin number. <\/em><\/p>\n short<\/strong> Stock Exchange<\/em> sell (stocks or other securities or commodities) in advance of acquiring them, with the aim of making a profit when the price falls.<\/p>\n soften<\/strong> (of a market, currency, or commodity) fall in value: the share price has softened recently. <\/em><\/p>\n straightedge <\/strong>(esp. among fans of hardcore punk music) having an ascetic or abstinent lifestyle: he\u2019s so straightedge that he won\u2019t even take Tylenol when he has a headache.<\/em><\/p>\n tweet<\/strong><\/a> viral<\/strong> an image, video, advertisement, etc., that is circulated rapidly on the Internet: the rise of virals in online marketing. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n To my ear, “what’s not to like?”\u00a0 is an old Yinglish phrase–yes, all English words […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[5345],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBFF<\/strong> n. (pl. BFFs<\/strong>) informal<\/em> a girl\u2019s best friend: my BFF\u2019s boyfriend is cheating on her<\/em>.
\n\u2013 ORIGIN 1996: from the initial letters of best friend forever<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN early 21st cent.: blend of brother and romance.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN early 21st cent.: with reference to a misinterpretation of acorn.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN on the pattern of white-collar and blue-collar.<\/p>\n
\ninformal<\/em> a negative or critical person: she found it difficult to cope with the haters<\/em>.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN early 21st cent.: on the pattern of offshoring.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN early 21st cent.: on the pattern of outsourcing (see outsource).<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 DERIVATIVES hypermiler <\/strong>n.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN abbreviation.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN early 21st cent.: French, alteration of parcours<\/em> \u2018route, course.\u2019<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN early 21st cent.: blend of stay1<\/sup> and vacation.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN early 19th cent. (in the sense \u2018truthfulness\u2019): coined in the modern sense by US humorist Stephen Colbert (1964\u2013).<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN perhaps from Zulu.<\/p>\n
\n\u2013 ORIGIN 1990s: blend of Web and episode.<\/p>\nNew Phrases<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nbe all that<\/strong> informal<\/em> be very attractive or good: he thinks he\u2019s all that\u2014yeah, God\u2019s gift<\/em>.<\/p>\nOld Words, New Senses<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\narc<\/strong> (in a novel, play, or movie) the development or resolution of the narrative or principal theme.<\/p>\n
\nverb \u2013 add (someone) to a list of contacts associated with a social networking website.<\/p>\n
\n– a posting made on the social networking site Twitter: he started posting \u2018tweets\u2019 via his cell phone to let his parents know he was safe.<\/em>
\n– make a posting on the social networking site Twitter. <\/em><\/p>\n\n