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
In her book, Canadian English: A Linguistic Reader, University of Toronto professor Elaine Gold writes extensively about the common Canadian discourse tag eh? This word can serve as a confirmation marker, much like the discourse tag right? The word...
Rich in Jackson, Wyoming, is searching for a word for using natural objects such as a rocks, driftwood, or antlers, as decoration. He considered the German Natur, “nature,” and Kunst, “art,” but it didn’t quite fit...