FASHION Magazine

Word: Holidaze

Meaning: The state of being totally confused about whose festivus fete you were supposed to attend at 6, which of your disgusting exes you should still send a “Happy 2012!” e-card to, how much to spend on your step-aunt, whether or not cranberry sauce is “better for you” than gravy, and what constitutes appropriate attire for the one time of year you don’t have a choice about going to church; also, not caring one tiny bit.

Usage: “Happy Holidaze!” — from me to you because I’m so nice

Word: Wunderkammer

Meaning: A cabinet of wonders, of marvels, of curiosities; synonym: my bathroom. Origin: Germany.

Usage: “A collection of bookshelves, Kunstkammer, Wunderkammer, salon-style hangings, advertising, litter, clutter, chaos, and any other example of our desire to fill space.” —  Among the Mess

Word: Hacker

Meaning: Someone who uses computers and technology to gain unlawful access to data; someone who uses that access to mess with the digital world.

Usage: “Computer hackers are frequently denigrated as mere digital pranksters. But some are now finding they have the power to change the world for good” — from the dek of a Guardian piece by The Revolution Will Be Digitised–author, Heather Brooks.

Word: Sodality

Meaning: Companionship; a fraternity or society.

Usage: “It was the smile of recognition, or one that anticipates in late afternoon an “evening of shame:” — that is to say, pleasure, or, one of his favorite terms, “sodality.” — Ian McEwan on Christopher Hitchens (RIP) in the New York Times (reprinted in yesterday’s Globe and Mail)

Word: Twepression

Meaning: A certain slide in happiness, as seen on Twitter, over the last few years.

Usage: To paraphrase—with apologies—David Foster Wallace, “Twepression is a failure to identify.”

Word: Reimagining

Meaning: A new conception of something that already exists in a complete state; a reinvention of the proverbial wheel.

Usage: “It’s not a remake. It’s a reimagining.” — every Hollywood A-list-hole who’s ever made an inferior, insulting, and/or inconsequential new version of a movie we loved the way it was, thank you.

Word: Sh*t

Meaning: Literally, feces; exclamatorily, an expression of disgust or annoyance.

Usage: “You piece of sh*t!” — Justin Trudeau to Peter Kent in the House of Commons yesterday

Word: Fassinators

Meaning: A self-appellation belonging to superfans of the actor Michael Fassbender

Usage: “Fassinators! Which Michael Fassbender film are you looking forward to the most?” — Michael Fassbender Online

Word: Paradisco

Meaning: A supranatural dance club? Music for the specially-abled? Nobody knows…

Usage: “In paradiscos, we get bored of breaking actors/Turning beggars and the heroes.” — Charlotte Gainsbourg, in “Paradisco”

Word: Floration

Usage: “[Kehinde Wiley‘s] models are photorealistic and the backgrounds are primarily images of what he calls “floration,” stylistic representations from designs that are Islamic, Baroque, and Rococo in origin.” — from the Columbus Museum of Art’s description of painter Wiley’s 2006 show

Meaning: See above. (Wiley made up the word himself.)

Word: Mensch

Meaning: A person of strength and honour and other admirable characteristics, taken from the Yiddish word for human, which in turn is taken from an old German word for man or person.

Usage: “He asked me… when was the last time I manned-up. The last time I was a mensch. I love that word. Because it’s not really manning-up. A girl can be a mensch too.” — Bruce LaBruce, in conversation with James Franco, in the new issue of Bad Day magazine.

Word: Franglais

Meaning: An interlanguage, a mash-up of French and English, commonly spoken by Americans in Paris or Canadian fashion writers trying to sound fancy. Sorry.

Usage: “Sometimes a bit of Franglais works wonders,” he says. “If you say ‘pommes au choix’ it sounds a lot better than steamed potatoes.” — Rankin, in a Toby Young review of Bellamy‘s in London