hamdemic
n.—Gloss: A joking name for the swine flu pandemic. «As a responsible newspaper in serious times—when the world is threatened by climate change, economic collapse and what we are steadfastly refusing to describe as a “hamdemic” or an “aporkalypse”—Metro is very careful to give a balanced view of the major issues of our time.» —“Cats: a clarification” Metro.co.uk (United Kingdom) April 27, 2009. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
The term skycap for workers who help with luggage at an airport was coined by analogy with redcap, a term for porters on trains who wore red caps. Skycap was the winning entry in a contest. Another contest, held in 1923, gave us the word scofflaw, a...
Barbara Kingsolver’s novel Demon Copperhead (Bookshop|Amazon) is a modern retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield (Bookshop|Amazon). Set in Appalachia, it won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. When Martha interviewed Kingsolver at...