Words celebrities invented that totally caught on
On the Tonight Show this past Monday, Jimmy Fallon invented a word that I’m determined to popularize: frazy. Inspired by the hometown of an audience member (Frazeyburg, Ohio), Fallon imagined a definition for the term (“freaking crazy” or cool) and proceeded to interject it into various segments throughout the night, causing the word geek inside of me to burst with joy. It’s not unheard of that a celebrity would make up a word. In fact, it happens so often, you would think it was part of their job description. Take a look at some of these celebrity concoctions if you don’t believe me:
1) Jeah (interjection): to be happy or good
Crediting Young Jeezy’s word “cheah” for inspiring him, Ryan Lochte presented the term “jeah” during the 2012 Olympics. With tweets like “New Spider-man coloring book to pass the time at swim meet. #bigkidatheart #jeah” Lochte has been trying to get the term to catch on. Not only has he participated in numerous promotional videos about the word, but he’s also attempted to trademark it for use on swimwear, glasses, T-shirts, etc. Hey, if it gives us another way to get rid of the “J” tile in Scrabble, I’m all for it.
2) Smize (v.): to smile with your eyes
Tyra Banks is known for coining her own words, including “flawsome” and “tooch,” but none have seen more success than the word “smize.” Meaning “to smile with your eyes,” smize has taken the fashion world by storm, joining “Give me fierce!” and “Beautiful darling!” on the long list of “Things Photographers Like to Yell During Photoshoots.”
3) Dunzo (n.): over with (“We’re dunzo!”)
Some people know the word “dunzo” from the MTV reality show Laguna Beach: the cast collectively used the expression so much, it became common knowledge among TV fans in 2006. I know the word from Tom Haverford’s “Dunzo List” which, if you haven’t heard, is like, the most essential list to be on next to, maybe, Tina Fey’s list of people she wants to be friends with. (It doesn’t exist as far as I know, but if it did, that’s where you’d want to be.)
4) EVOO (n.): extra virgin olive oil
EVOO is an acronym, I know, but the Oxford American College Dictionary crowned it an official word in 2007, which means it’s a little like YOLO in that it can work as a standalone term. While I appreciate EVOOs presence in our vocabulary, I personally believe Rachael Ray has come up with some better words more worthy of a spot in the big book, like entréetizer, an entrée-sized appetizer, for example. Or maybe I’m just hungry and an entrée sounds more appealing than a bottle of oil right now.
5) Truthiness (n.): the quality of seeming to be true according to one’s intuition, opinion, or perception without regard to logic, factual evidence, or the like
In the pilot episode of The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert uses the word “truthiness” to refer to political candidates or campaigns that try to pass off personal intuition as fact. As in, “I have a feeling that global warming is not real, therefore, it’s not,” which is kind of like when a kid on the playground creates a game and begins to make up the rules along the way.
6) Shamazing (adj.): super cool
In describing a performance by singer Jahmene Douglas on The X-Factor, judge Nicole Scherzinger used the word “shamazing” meaning “super amazing” or “super cool.” Haters can hate all they want, but I actually don’t mind this word, as long as people don’t somehow start segueing into using “amazeballs” because that’s where I draw the line. But now that we’re here…
7) Amazeballs (n.): very impressive
Perez Hilton came up with this word at some point. I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.
8) Hateration (n.): negative feelings towards someone that you dwell on
If you are a human, you have probably sung the words to “Family Affair” by Mary J. Blige at some point in your life. But have you ever really listened to them? If so, you will have noticed that she coins a number of words in the chorus alone including this one. Don’t need no hateration, holleration, in this article for me.
9) Strategery (n.): a play on the word “strategy”
I must give credit where credit is due and say that Will Ferrell did not invent this word, a writer for the SNL skit featuring Will Ferrell did (James Downey), but Ferrell made it popular so they both get props here. Strategery is nothing more than a commentary on George W. Bush’s twangy accent and his predilection for neologisms.
10) Fetch (adj.): cool
Allow me to pose a semi-serious question about the nature of the word fetch: in trying so desperately to convince the population that fetch will never happen, did the movie Mean Girls (aka Tina Fey) actually make fetch happen? Was that their plan all along? Food for thought, you guys.
If there is a frazy/frazey/frayzee word that I missed, feel free to share it!
Featured image via .
