catastroika
n.— «While Gorbachev’s political reforms are breathtaking, his economic perestroika appears overly cautious and utterly ineffectual. French scholar Jacques Rupnik has suggested a new label: catastroika. The sprawling Soviet empire—full of fractious Ukrainians, Armenians, Tatars, and other nationalities—constantly threatens to come apart at the seams.» —“How China’s Chaos Affects the West” by Richard I. Kirkland Jr. Fortune (New York City) June 19, 1989. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
What kind of book do people ask for most often in prison? Romance novels? No. The Bible? No. The most requested books by far are … dictionaries! A number of volunteer organizations gather and distribute used dictionaries to help inmates with...
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...