While the television show The Soup brings you “the strange, obscure and totally unbelievable moments in pop culture, celebrity news and reality TV,” Word Soup brings you those strange, obscure, unbelievable (and sometimes NSFW) words from talk shows, sitcoms, dramas, and just about anything else on TV.
accusational opposition disorder
Britta: “For our midterm, we actually get to diagnose a fellow student with something.”
Annie: “Don’t you do way too much of that already?”
Britta: “Accusational opposition disorder.”
“Contemporary Impressionists,” Community, March 22, 2012
Accusational opposition disorder is a pseudo-psychology term for disagreeing or arguing with someone.
analogy
Jeff: “Somebody tell Britta what an analogy is.”
Britta: “I know what it is! It’s like a thought. . .with another thought’s hat on.”
“Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts,” Community, March 15, 2012
The traditional definition of analogy is “similarity in some respects between things that are otherwise dissimilar,” and “a comparison based on such similarity.”
bang brothers
Dennis: “Anything you need to say to [Chris], you can say in front of me. Me and Chris, we’re bang brothers.”
“St. Patrick’s Day,” 30 Rock, March 15, 2012
Bang brothers are men who have slept with the same woman. The term uses the slang sense of bang, “to have sexual intercourse with.”
bloviate
Bill O’Reilly: “All the bloviating in the world won’t matter till those debates next fall.”
O’Reilly Factor, April 2, 2012
Bloviate was coined by President Warren G. Harding, and may be a “compound of blow, in its sense of ‘to boast’. . .with a mock-Latin ending.” More words coined or popularized by U.S. presidents.
bouncing Betty
Squirrely: “Ever heard of a bouncing Betty?”
Earl: “What is it?”
Tanner: “It’s a goddamned land mine!”
“Loose Ends,” Justified, March 13, 2012
A bouncing Betty is “a land mine propelled a meter or two into the air before exploding.” It was “first used extensively in warfare by Germany during World War One” and is also known as an S-mine.
chirality
Nikki: “Could he have changed his chirality? Whether he was a righty or a lefty.”
“Clarence Montgomery,” Alcatraz, March 12, 2012
Chirality is “in optics, the power possessed by certain crystals and optically active substances of turning the plane of polarization of light to the right or left hand.” It’s also another word for handedness, “a preference for using one hand as opposed to the other.” Chirality comes from the Greek kheir, “hand.”
dewhimsify
Troy: “We dewhimsified ourselves.”
“Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts,” Community, March 15, 2012
To dewhimsify means to make less whimsical, “having odd fancies or peculiar notions.” Whimsical probably comes from whim-wham, “fanciful object.”
Narrator: “Winger’s critics suggest he merely improvised hot-button patriotic dogma in a Ferris Buellerian attempt to delay school work.”
“Pillows and Blankets,” Community, April 5, 2012
Ferris Buellerian refers to the titular character in the film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, who plays hooky and encourages his reluctant best friend to follow suit. (Hat tip to Andy Hollandbeck.)
Fredo-kiss
Nick [to Schmidt]: “Did you just Fredo-kiss me?”
“Injury,” New Girl, March 6, 2012
Fredo-kiss refers to the kiss of death, a kiss “that signifies the death of the receiver,” specifically that which was received by Fredo from his brother Michael in the film, The Godfather. The term kiss of death originates from “the kiss by which Judas betrayed Jesus” in the Bible.
hypernarcissosis
Britta [to Jeff]: “Without anxiety to keep your vanity in check, you are vulnerable to a syndrome called hypernarcissosis.”
“Contemporary Impressionists,” Community, March 22, 2012
Hypernarcissosis, another pseudo-psychology term, is excessive narcissism or love and admiration for oneself. It contains the Greek hyper, “over, above, beyond, exceedingly, to excess,” and narcissism, which comes from Narkissos, the “name of a beautiful youth in mythology. . .who fell in love with his own reflection in a spring and was turned to the flower narcissus.”
Klaustreich
Nick: “It’s not a lion or a tiger, but it’s not a housecat either. It’s something in-between.”
Eddie: “Like an alley cat? Klaustreich. Total jerks. Women love them but it never ends well. Isn’t that always the way?”
“The Thing With Wings,” Grimm, April 6, 2012
Klaustreich is made up of the German words for “claw” (klaue) and “trickery” (streich).
manbulance
Schmidt: “The manbulance could fit the luggage of nine Shelbys. It has the towing capacity of a thousand Shelbys!”
“Fancy Man, Part 2,” New Girl, March 27, 2012
Manbulance is a blend of man and ambulance, and implies manliness and a vehicle able to handle “emergencies” such as taking one’s girlfriend and her abundant luggage to the airport.
mergina
Tina: “If we see any mermaids, I’m going to ask where their merginas are.”
“Burgerboss,” Bob’s Burgers, April 1, 2012
Mergina is a blend of mermaid and vagina. See duderus.
Jenna: “He reversed the polarity! He normal-Al’d us!”
“Kidnapped By Danger,” 30 Rock, March 22, 2012
Normal-Al is the opposite of Weird Al, referring to Weird Al Yankovic, a performer known for parodying famous songs. Thus, to normal-Al means to make a normal version of something ridiculous.
rhinotillexomania
Wilson: “Good news — based on her thrifty shopping habits and taste for artificial dairy, she’s clearly not a gold-digger. Bad news — based on his rhinotillexomania, he is. Compulsive addiction to nose-picking.”
“Blowing the Whistle,” House, April 2, 2012
Rhinotillexomania is made up of the Greek rhinos, “nose,” plus the Old English tilian, “tend, work at, get by labor,” plus the Greek exo, “outside,” plus the Greek mania, “an eager, uncontrolled, or uncontrollable desire”
sandbagger
Associate Warden [regarding a prisoner with an uncanny talent for violin]: “I think we have a sandbagger.”
“Webb Porter,” Alcatraz, March 19, 2012
A sandbagger in this context is “someone who deceives you about his true nature or intent in order to take advantage of you.” This sense of the word attests to the 1970s, and is an extension of the poker-playing sense of “‘refrain from raising at the first opportunity in hopes of raising more steeply later’ (1940), which perhaps is from sandbagger in the sense of ‘bully or ruffian who uses a sandbag as a weapon to knock his intended victim unconscious.’” A synonym may be ringer.
Seltenvogel
Eddie: “In ancient times, [Seltenvogel] were highly valued. Usually kept prisoner, like a concubine or a parakeet.”
“The Thing With Wings,” Grimm, April 6, 2012
Seltenvogel translates from the German as “rare (selten) bird (vogel).”
sexcretary
Schmidt: “A sex receptionist answers calls all day! A sexcretary does scheduling, light filing, basically runs the office. So first of all, thank you for the demotion. And second of all, I quit.”
“Fancy Man, Part 2,” New Girl, March 27, 2012
Sexcretary is a blend of sex and secretary.
Unbezahlbar
Eddie [to Nick]: “Once in their life, a Seltenvogel produces this kind of large glandular thing.”
Rosalee: “I think it’s called an Unbezahlbar.”
Eddie: “Easy for you to say.”
“The Thing With Wings,” Grimm, April 6, 2012
An Unbezahlbar is a “a dense mineral deposit that grows in the throat sac” of the Seltenvogel. It develops like an egg and is made mostly of gold. The word translates from the German as “priceless.”
vaginacologist
Virginia: “The only one who has that many rubber gloves is my vaginacologist.”
“Sabrina’s New Jimmy,” Raising Hope, April 3, 2012
Vaginacologist, a blend of vagina and gynecologist, is an example of an eggcorn, a misuse of a word that makes sense to the speaker.
whordiot
Mallory: “Oh you don’t look like a whore. An idiot maybe. Or both. Yes a whordiot.”
“Space Race: Part II,” Archer, March 22, 2012
Whordiot is a blend of whore and idiot.
Zaubertrank
Rosalee: “[Zaubertrank] causes obsessive behavior. If the right person takes it, it creates a deep emotional response. But if the wrong person takes it.” [Indicates a pock-marked, unconscious Wu] “This happens.”
“Island of Dreams,” Grimm, March 30, 2012
Zaubertrank translates from the German as “magic potion.”
