The German publisher Langenscheidt declared smombie as the Youth Word of the Year for 2015. A portmanteau of the German borrowings smartphone and zombie, Smombie denotes someone so absorbed in their small, glowing screen that they’re oblivious to...
People who can’t manage to go anywhere without a book might be afflicted with abibliophobia, or perhaps they’re just book-bosomed. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Book-Bosomed” We talked on an earlier show about the term...
What do you call it when you’re out in public with friends but they’re all staring at their own cell phones? A listener from Santa Monica, California, suggests that the word techgether. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Techgether”...
If a phone in your shoe or your glasses isn’t futuristic enough for you, check out morphees. They’re smartphones and handheld gaming devices that can bend and change shapes. This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Morphees” Technology, of...
How would you feel if someone took away your smartphone? Nomophobia, the suggested moniker for that anxiety produced by the separation between one and one’s phone, was cooked up by a market research firm. Is there a better term for that awful...
If your iPhone’s Siri thinks that two meetings in one day is not bad, does that make her an optimist? Since when did cellphones start making value judgments? This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Optimistic Technology” Grant, you...