Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, in which we round up our favorite buzzworthy words of the week. The latest: politics get creepier; a plurality of husbands; South Park’s, uh, ode to a genre of anime.

know-nothingism

“This shift in expectations is the antidote both to the statist vision of the Democratic left and the incoherent policy know-nothingism of some GOP candidates.”

Glenn Hubbard, “It’s Time for Candidates to Get Serious About the Economy,” Politico, November 1, 2015

The know-nothings were a “political party in the United States during the 1850s that was antagonistic toward recent immigrants and Roman Catholics.” The name comes from the fact that, if asked about this secret society, members were supposed to answer,  “I know nothing.” The know-nothings eventually merged with the Republican Party.

neuropolitics

“Many political parties and campaigns are loath to talk about their forays into neuropolitics, with many disavowing them or saying they did not believe the research was widely used.”

Kevin Randall, “Neuropolitics, Where Campaigns Try to Read Your Mind,” The New York Times, November 3, 2015

Neuropolitics is the practice of using voter data and insights to tweak political campaigns. It’s a take on neuromarketing, which uses “technologies like facial coding, biofeedback and brain imaging” to push “the boundaries of marketing and product development.”

During his campaign, the current president of Mexico used “tools to measure voters’ brain waves, skin arousal, heart rates and facial expressions.” In Turkey, the prime minster used a neuromarketing company who, based on factors such as brain waves and heart rates, discovered that the official “was not emotionally engaging voters in his speeches.”

polyandry

“Polyandry has been practiced before in China, particularly in impoverished areas, as a way to pool resources and avoid the breakup of property.”

Didi Kirsten Tatlow, “Not Enough Women in China? Let Men Share a Wife, an Economist Suggests,” The New York Times, October 26, 2015

Polyandry is a “plurality of husbands” — in other words, having more than one husband at a time. The word comes from the Greek polyandria, where poly- means “many” and –andry is from aner, “man, husband.”

womenomics

“Abe’s ‘womenomics’ policy aims to put more women to work to counter a chronically low birthrate and shrinking workforce, but a business culture in which long hours are routine makes it more difficult for women to get ahead.”

Mari Yamaguchi, “‘Womenomics’ makes small chips in Japan’s glass ceiling,” AP, October 27, 2015

Womenomics, a blend of women and economics, is the idea that gender equality in the workforce will lead to economic growth.

yaoi

“On Monday, the folks at South Park asked fans to submit ‘romantic’ artwork of Tweek and Craig, as this week’s episode would revolve around Asian Students drawing ‘yaoi’ of the boys.”

Chet Manley, “‘South Park’ Decided To Bring Attention To Yaoi, And The Internet Reacted Accordingly,” Uproxx, October 29, 2015

Also called Boys’ Love, yaoi is a genre of Japanese anime and manga that focuses on romantic relationships between male characters, and is popular among girls and women. The term is apparently a shortening of the Japanese Yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi, “no climax, no point, no meaning,” which seems to refer to the manga’s loose and untraditional narrative structure.

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, in which we round up our favorite buzzworthy words of the week. The latest: a new name for d’ough!; not just small, not just cute; fine young cannibal stars.

dollarydoo

“Either way, one Australian citizen’s petition to change the name of the Australian currency to ‘dollarydoos’ has hit a chord, gaining more than 50,000 signatures in just five days.”

Georgie McCafferty, “Yes, Australians are really petitioning to change their currency’s name to the ‘dollarydoo,’” Quartz, October 20, 2015

Petition organizer Thomas Probst wants to boost the Australian economy by changing the country’s currency from the far less exciting “Australian dollar” (or probably just “dollar” in the land down under) to the Simpsonian dollarydoo.

Dollarydoo is from a 1995 episode of The Simpsons, in which Bart places a collect call to a boy in Australia, racking up a bill of nine hundred dollarydoos. Perhaps the show’s writers were inspired by the didgeridoo, a musical instrument of Australia’s indigenous peoples.

Dvorak scale

“Shortly after the research plane left, satellite estimates of Patricia’s intensity broke the Dvorak scale, peaking at 8.3 on the 8.0 scale.”

Eric Holthaus, “Patricia, Strongest Hurricane in History, Makes Landfall in Mexico,” Slate, October 23, 2015

The Dvorak scale measures tropical cyclone intensity, specifically Mean Wind Speed in knots and miles per hour. The Dvorak scale and technique are named for Vernon Dvorak, an American meteorologist.

smol

“Here’s a new word that’s been showing up online: smol. It’s an alternative version of small, but it doesn’t just refer to size—it’s more about something or someone being really cute.”

Gretchen McCulloch, “Smol: The New Social Media Word That’s ‘Small’ But Cuter,” Mental Floss, October 21, 2015

Smol apparently means something very small and cute (perhaps like the Japanese anime term chibi) and may also have the figurative meaning of “adorable” and not necessarily small in size, like “calling a romantic partner baby,” says Gretchen McCulloch at Mental Floss.

As for the spelling, McCulloch suggests that the “o might evoke a cuter pronunciation, while dropping the l could simply be to make the word, well, smaller.”

vampire star

“Unlike ‘vampire stars’—when the smaller star in a binary system sucks material away from the larger one—the stars in VFTS 352 are nearly identical in size.”

Adam Epstein, “Scientists think ‘kissing’ double stars will either merge or become black holes,” Quartz, October 22, 2015

Vampire stars (not to be confused with star vampires) are also known as cannibal stars and blue stragglers, so-called because of their color and because they seem to “straggle” behind other stars in terms of age, appearing, like an aging celebrity returned from vacation, inexplicably younger and hotter.

Yamaguchi-gumi

“The Yamaguchi-gumi has always tried to cultivate good relations with the locals, hosting an annual rice cake-making event at the start of the year in which the gang distributes food and booze to the locals.”

Jake Adelstein, “Japan’s Yakuza Cancels Halloween,” The Daily Beast, October 25, 2015

At odds with its whimsical name, the Yamaguchi-gumi is Japan’s largest organized crime group, which recently split into “two rival factions.” The organization is named for its founder Harukichi Yamaguchi while –gumi translates as association or group.

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, in which we round up our favorite buzzworthy words of the week. The latest: sleeping while learning; snubbing while phoning; pubbing while corporate.

despeciation

“The work, published in Ecology and Evolution, suggests that this tropical warbler had undergone speciation in reverse, or despeciation.”

Janet Fant, “Malagasy Songbird Is Rare Instance Of Evolution Working ‘Backwards,’” IFL Science, October 8, 2015

Despeciation is the “rare instance where multiple species [have] merged back into one,” and occurs “under certain circumstances, such as human alteration of habitat.” It’s thought that the ancestors of the tetraka, a songbird from Madagascar, “became separate species when the climate was drier, and then came back together when the forests linked up again.”

More common than despeciation is speciation, the “evolutionary formation of new biological species, usually by the division of a single species into two or more genetically distinct ones.”

Dyson sphere

“The idea of a Dyson sphere began as a thought experiment, based on the idea that technological civilisations gradually look to harness more energy.”

Andrew Griffin, “‘Giant alien megastructure found in space’: What is a Dyson sphere, and what else could we have found?” The Independent, October 15, 2015

A Dyson sphere is “a huge shell structure that would sit entirely round a star, collecting all of the energy that comes out of it,” and is named for Freeman Dyson, “a theoretical physicist who popularised the idea but has said that he wished it didn’t have his name.”

Scientists have recently spotted what some say might be “alien megastructures” around a star, but which might merely be a huge cloud of space dust.

hypnopaedia

“Scientific consensus soon concluded that the sleeping brain was incapable of absorbing outside information, and hypnopaedia was consigned to the realm of quackery.”

Kenneth Miller, “Night school,” Aeon, October 2, 2015

Hypnopaedia is learning or teaching while sleeping. The idea has gone back “at least to biblical times,” says Aeon, but the term seems to have been coined by Aldous Huxley in his 1932 novel, Brave New World: “The principle of sleep-teaching, or hypnopædia, had been discovered.” The word combines the Greek hypnos, “sleep,” and paideia, “education, child-rearing.”

Aeon also says that hypnopaedia was all the rage about 100 years ago, “ending only after neuroscientists determined it was physiologically impossible.” But now research has suggested that hypnopaedia may have some validity after all.

phubbing

“The team developed the ‘Partner Phubbing Scale,’ which they believe is significant for demonstrating that phubbing is ‘conceptually and empirically different’ from attitude toward cellphones, partner’s phone use, phone conflict and phone addiction.”

Katrina Pascual, “What Is ‘Phubbing’? Here’s How This Cellphone Habit Can Ruin Your Relationship,” Tech Times, October 3, 2015

Phubbing is the act of ignoring someone in favor of perusing one’s mobile device — in other words, snubbing by phone. The term was coined in 2012 by an ad agency with the purpose of marketing the Macquarie Dictionary of Australia.

Phubbing has resurfaced recently due to a study from the Hankamer School of Business of Baylor University, which found that phubbing may damage romantic relationships and increase depression.

pubco

“Though British pubcos tend to assume names suggestive of either boozy bonhomie (Punch Taverns, Faucet Inns) or basic vigour and drive (Enterprise Inns, Admiral Taverns) they are as a rule cheerless, lumbering concerns.”

Tom Lamont, “The death and life of the great British pub,” The Guardian, October 13, 2015

Pubcos are large pub-owning companies that came into dominance in the 1990s. The term plays off telco, a large telephone company, which originated in the late 1970s.

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, in which we round up our favorite buzzworthy words of the week. The latest: a fake generation; a rich one; and how not to be like a fish on a bicycle.

becomer

“The New York Times reported that the Disney-owned cable channel will undergo a radical rebrand in January, with a new name (Freeform) and a new target audience (‘becomers,’ or the generation below their former target, millennials).”

Vinnie Mancuso, “Oh, Golly! ABC Family to Rebrand as ‘Freeform,’ Will Stop ‘Chasing Millennials,’” Observer, October 6, 2015

The term becomers was coined by ABC Family execs to refer to “youths and young adults in the 12-34 age range,” which as the Observer points out, “is basically still millennials” (emphasis theirs). Millennials are generally defined as people born between 1980 and 1995. ABC Family, now Freeform, does note that becomers are not so much a generation “as a life stage.”

dowser

“As a dowser, she uses tools as simple as a stick to determine where to place a well.”

Lois Parshley, “Climate of doubt,” Aeon, October 5, 2015

A dowser is someone who uses a divining rod to try and find underground water or minerals. The origin of the word dowse, which also means to plunge into water, is unknown. The Online Etymology Dictionary says it’s from the 1690s and is a “south England dialect word, of uncertain origin.”

fuerdai

“As portrayed in the local press, fuerdai are to China what Paris Hilton was to the U.S. a decade ago, only less tasteful.”

Christopher Beam, “Children of the Yuan Percent: Everyone Hates China’s Rich Kids,” Bloomberg, September 30, 2015

Fuerdai translates from Chinese as “second-generation rich,” and are viewed as pampered and spoiled, in stark contrast with the first generation of Chinese entrepreneurs, who grew up during the Cultural Revolution. “[Fuerdai] know only how to show off their wealth,” claims an article from a Chinese government body, “but don’t know how to create wealth.”

Some fuerdai are trying to rebrand their image, says Bloomberg, having dropped fu, “wealthy,”and calling themselves chuangerdai, “second-generation entrepreneurs,” or simply erdai, “second generation.”

shoaling

“Shoaling is the byproduct of the increasing popularity of cycling, an ostensible net positive that longtime riders nevertheless seem to secretly resent.”

Lauren Evans, “What Is Shoaling And Should Cyclists Stop Doing It?” Gothamist, October 6, 2015

Shoaling is the act of swerving around other cyclists at a red light “to get to the head of the pack,” says Gothamist, rather than waiting behind them, with the idea that one is faster than the other cyclists and will need to pass them eventually anyway.

This cycling term is based on shoal meaning a school of fish, says NPR. The word shoal might come from the Old English scolu, “band, troop, crowd of fish,” or the Middle Dutch schole, “multitude, flock.”

YURP

“Katrina had a gentrifying effect on a lot of the city. First came the YURPS, or Young Urban Rebuilding Professionals.”

Sean Cole, “Lower 9 + 10,” This American Life, August 28, 2015

YURP plays off yuppie, “young urban professional,” which originated in the early 1980s, and beat out in popularity similar terms such as yumpie, “young upward-mobile professional,” and yap, “young aspiring professional.”