After you notice a certain word for the first time, chances are you’ll start seeing it all over the place. That’s known as the frequency illusion, coined by linguist Arnold Zwicky, and it happens because of confirmation bias. This is...
scalejacking n.— «Dave Balter coined this great term. It describes the quest of marketers for size at all costs. Because marketers were raised on the scale of mass—TV, radio, newspapers—they have a churn and burn mentality. The internet...
attention surplus disorder n.— «She was extremely intense—that just a minimum phone conversation would be a few hours on the phone. And she wouldn’t even take hints to get off the phone. If someone would say, “Oh, I have to go to the...
stunt v.— «Anthony Johnson, 14, said not having girls around for freshman year “takes the pressure off.” “We don’t have to what I call “stunt” in front of the girls,” he said. “The only thing the...
Munchausen by Internet n.— «Dr. Marc Feldman, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama, has investigated such minds for 15 years, usually in the “off line” world. Feldman is an expert in fictitious...
shelf shout n. the attention-grabbing aspects of a product’s appearance. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)