moe
n.— «Moe is a new word, roughly two years old. Its meaning is tough to pin down. Essentially, it suggests the strong emotional connection otaku feel with their favorite characters. “In 2003,” says a think tank analyst, “books, films and games possessing moe quality racked up an estimated 88.8 billion yen in sales.”» —“Otaku and their obsessions worth billions” by Hiraku Toda Asahi Shimbun (Japan) Aug. 27, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Chris in Omaha, Nebraska, asks about the use of the adjective husky to describe the boys’ clothing section in a department store. This coded term refers to clothes made for heavier fellows. Husky was originally a positive term connoting the...