shotta n.— «“Shottas,” a slick but dull new shoot-’em-up from Jamaica, doesn’t penetrate the mysteries of high-rolling, high-risk thug life. It perpetuates them. In the local patois, the title means “gangsta,” and...
pollaganda n.— «Pollaganda is outcome-based opinion samples (polling instruments designed to generate a preferential outcome) based on prior-opinion indoctrination or cultivation by the media, the results of which are then used to...
white-boy syndrome n.— «There’s little evidence of any overt racial tension between students or between their parents.…The school superintendent, however, concedes that a perception exists that’s sometimes called “the white...
frankenbite n.— «Frankenbite…An edited reality show snippet, most often found in contestant testimonials, that splices together several disparate strands of an interview, or even multiple interviews, into a single clip. A...
sugar in one’s walk n.— «There’s been a lot of publicity recently about some bisexual black men who are “on the DL” (for down low), meaning they secretly have sex with other men while maintaining relationships with women;...
Eye-wreck n.— «None of the “that stuff in Eye-Wreck” news will fit the American categories of perception and discourse. Hostile Iraqis, abu Ghraib, gesticulating clerics, robed jihadist, incessant street bombings—none of these...