Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, your go-to place for the most interesting words of the week. The latest: a mysterious toilet, abandoned homes, dangerous rocket fuel.

Pittsburgh potty

“We’re talking about the so-called Pittsburgh potty, a mysterious amenity found in the basements of some older houses.”

Rheana Murray, “What the heck is a ‘Pittsburgh potty’ and why is it in your basement?” TODAY, October 26, 2017

In addition to being in the basement, says TODAY, the Pittsburgh potty has “no walls for privacy, no sinks for hand-washing.” It’s “just a toilet, out in the open.”

There are a couple of different theories behind its origin. One has to do with “Pittsburgh’s history in the steel industry,” and says that “steel workers could come home from work, clean themselves off, change clothes and use the Pittsburgh potty before going upstairs to have dinner with the family,” rather than “tracking dust and dirt throughout the house.”

Another says the toilets, “usually found in pre-World War II houses, were actually there to prevent sewage backups in the nice part of the home.”

frustrated magnet

“Just like the three toddlers constantly grabbing the two toys from one another’s fingers, the electrons constantly force one another to flip their spin direction. This is what’s called a ‘frustrated magnet’.”

Cathal O’Connell, “Spin doctors summon coppers in quantum computing caper,” Cosmos, October 27, 2017

Using the idea of frustrated magnetism, says Cosmos, “physicists recently discovered a new state of matter” called “quantum spin liquid.” The other known states of matter are solids, liquids, gases, plasma, and Bose-Einstein condensates.

Kooshma

“Our parents always implicated if we didn’t say our prayers at night the ‘Kooshma’ would come and get us.”

Kendria LaFleur, “Medical explanation for Cajun Folklore known as ‘Kooshma‘,” KATC, October 30, 2017

According to Cajun folklore, the Kooshma is a devil-like creature that visits sleepers, rendering them paralyzed. However, the cause may actually be sleep paralysis, says KATC. The work Kooshma might come from the French cauchemar, “nightmare.”

akiya

“Many of Japan’s 8 million ghost homes—or akiya—are often left empty indefinitely.”

Isabella Steger, “Abandoned land in Japan will be the size of Austria by 2040,” Quartz, October 26, 2017

The cause of the increased number of akiya, says Quartz, is Japan’s “dwindling population.” After the homeowner dies, “it’s difficult to track down the heir to the property to proceed with any action like tearing down the building,” and even “where homes have identifiable heirs, they are often unable to sell because there’s a lack of interested buyers” since “many of these houses are in rural areas or suburbs” which is “unattractive to young buyers.” Moreover, Japanese people are “reluctant to buy second-hand homes.” While 90% of houses sold in the US and the UK have been lived in before, only 15% in Japan have.

devil’s venom

“North Korea may already be producing its own supplies of a rare, potent rocket fuel known as ‘devil’s venom’ to power its long range missiles.”

Nicola Smith, “North Korea may be producing rare rocket fuel also known as ‘devil’s venom’,” The Telegraph, October 26, 2017

Apparently coined by Soviet rocket scientists, devil’s venom refers to a “liquid rocket fuel composed of a dangerous combination of nitric acid and hydrazine.”

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, your go-to place for the most interesting words of the week. The latest: your purpose in life, a lunchtime greeting, an ironic effect of Amazon.

ikigai

“Finding your ikigai can also be as easy as just stopping yourself throughout the day and ask yourself: Why are you doing this?”

Lyndsey Matthews, “Is Ikigai the New Hygge?” CountryLiving, October 19, 2017

The Japanese ikigai is translated literally as “life” (iki) and “value or worth” (gai), says CountryLiving. The concept is about finding your purpose in life, your reason for being, or the “the thing that gets you out of bed each morning.” The Venn diagram of ikigai is made of four elements: what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.

Mahlzeit

“But while a newcomer may struggle to use it at the appropriate time, they can quickly pick up why Mahlzeit is such a pervasive word in the German workplace.”

Joseph Pearson, “What the German language reveals about attitudes to work,” BBC, October 23, 2017

Mahlzeit, literally “meal time” in German, seems to be a kind of greeting that’s used around lunchtime. It’s short for Gesegnete Mahlzeit, “blessed meal.” A common Chinese greeting that’s similar is “Have you eaten yet?” which might have originated during times of hardship and is a way to show one is concerned for the well-being of the other.

conllevado

“A Spanish word – ‘conllevado’ – sums up the divide here.”

“Spain Catalan crisis: Reaction to Puigdemont from Madrid and Barcelona,” BBC, October 10, 2017

Conllevado means “to exist with a problem,” and in this context refers to the two sides of the Catalan independence movement, “those who seek to prevent it, and those in between seeking to be heard.”

cataplexy

“I know about the cataplexy, how it feels to have emotions short a neurological circuit in the brainstem and cause a muscular collapse.”

Henry Nicholls, “Why We Still Don’t Understand Sleep, And Why It Matters,” Digg, October 24, 2017

Cataplexy refers to “a sudden loss of muscle tone and strength, usually caused by an extreme emotional stimulus.” It often accompanies narcolepsy, “a disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable, though often brief, attacks of deep sleep.”

The word cataplexy comes from the German Kataplexie, which was coined by English-born German physiologist, William Thierry Preyer in 1878, says the Online Etymology Dictionary. Kataplexie comes from the Greek kataplēxis, “fixation (of the eyes).”

Meanwhile, narcolepsy comes from the French narcolepsie, coined in 1880 by French physician Jean-Baptiste-Édouard Gélineau. Narcolepsie comes from the Latinized form of the Greek narke, “numbness, stupor,” plus lepsis, “an attack, seizure.”

Amazon effect

“It’s a scene repeating itself in dying suburban malls around the country, a sweeping economic disruption known as the Amazon effect.”

Mark Arsenault and Janelle Nanos, “In Enfield, Conn., a bid for Amazon tinged with irony,” Boston Globe, October 21, 2017

The Amazon effect refers to the “ongoing evolution and disruption of the retail market, both online and in physical outlets, resulting from increased e-commerce.” The town of Enfield, Connecticut has felt this directly with the closings of Macy’s, Sears, and J.C. Penney in their mall, but in an ironic move, is entering said mall in the race for Amazon’s second headquarters.

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, your go-to place for the most interesting words of the week. The latest: decluttering, Swedish death style; half a leopard; a not-so-secret handshake.

dostadning

“These are some of the things that you ask during dostadning, or Swedish death cleaning, the new decluttering technique that promises to rid your life of extraneous objects.”

Hannah-Rose Yee, “The New Decluttering Trend Is Called Swedish Death Cleaning And We Tried It,” Whimn, October 3, 2017

The idea behind dostadning, says Whimn, is that “when people die they leave stuff” behind, and it’s up to friends and family to deal with it. So why not declutter as much as possible to lighten that burden for loved ones? In addition, Swedish death cleaning is “about a permanent form of organisation that makes your everyday life run more smoothly.”

pard

“These books are veritable menageries of pards—scowling, snarling, and generally making a nuisance of themselves.”

Natasha Frost, “Just About Everything We Know About the Pard,” Atlas Obscura, October 13, 2017

While we now know leopards are “their own thing,” says Atlas Obscura, they were once thought to be a cross between a lion and what was called a “pard.” (In fact, that’s where the word leopard comes from, the Greek word for “lion” plus Greek for “pard.”)

What the heck’s a pard? Depends on who you ask. Ancient Roman philosopher and naturalist, Pliny the Elder, thought pards were male panthers, which are actually black leopards. Pards were also described as “having a “mottled coat,” speckled with white like a giraffe’s,” and being “swift and ‘headlong for blood,’” able to “kill their prey with a single leap.”

chavismo

“Everything is a permanent advertisement for ‘chavismo.’”

Christine Armario, “Here is what’s at stake in Venezuela vote for governors Sunday,” Local 10 News, October 14, 2017

Chavismo or chavism is the political ideology and movement founded by the late president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez.

four-way handshake

“Focusing on the four-way handshake means that there are possible Krack attacks for most Wi-Fi enabled devices out there.”

Lily Hay Newman, “The ‘Secure’ Wi-Fi Standard Has a Huge, Dangerous Flaw,” WIRED, October 16, 2017

According to WIRED, the four-way handshake is a procedure that “determines whether a user attempting to join a network and the access point offering the network have matching credentials.” It “generates a new encryption key—the third communication in the four-step process—to protect the user’s session.” The Key Reinstallation Attack, a “newly discovered vulnerability,” lets a hacker “tamper with or record and replay this third message, enabling them to reinstall a cryptographic key that’s already been used.”

Katrina brain

“In the aftermath of Katrina, many survivors struggled with short-term memory loss and cognitive impairment, a syndrome dubbed ‘Katrina brain.’”

Christine Vestal, “‘Katrina brain’: The invisible long-term toll of megastorms,” Politico, October 12, 2017

According to Ken Sakauye, a professor of psychiatry who was at Louisiana State University during Hurricane Katrina, “’Katrina Brain’ became a local term describing the fact that we couldn’t remember something as simple as a phone number after the hurricane.” While symptoms for most New Orleans residents “did not rise to the level of post-traumatic stress disorder,” they “did indicate generalized anxiety disorder (GAD),” including “anxiety, diffuse anger, guilt, and health worries.”

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, your go-to place for the most interesting words of the week. The latest: a questionable condition, a questionable defense, a cozy feeling.

pseudoaddiction

“At one point, during an appointment to which Moore accompanied him, a doctor assured him that he suffered from pseudoaddiction—and needed not fewer opioids, but more.”

Esme E. Deprez and Paul Barrett, “The Lawyer Who Beat Big Tobacco Takes On the Opioid Industry,” Bloomberg, October 5, 2017

Pseudoaddiction, says Bloomberg, is a “questionable condition” in which: 

behaviors normally associated with addiction—requesting drugs by name, displaying a demanding or manipulative manner, or seeking out more than one doctor to obtain opioids—might be signals that a patient needs more pain medication, not less.

The concept was coined in 1999 by J. David Haddox, a pain doctor and employee of Purdue Pharma, the maker of the pain medication, OxyContin. The idea of pseudoaddiction was promoted in Responsible Opioid Prescribing, a 2007 publication “distributed by the Federation of State Medical Boards and co-sponsored by Purdue.”

bump stock

“Officials confirmed that Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock had 12 rifles fitted with bump stocks in the hotel suite he used to stage his attack.”

Lois Beckett, “The NRA made a concession on bump stocks – but did we all just get played?” The Guardian, October 6, 2017

According to The Guardian, a bump stock is “a device that allows semi-automatic rifles to mimic the rapid fire of a fully automatic weapon.” While Democratic gun control advocates proposed an outright ban of the device and and some Republican Congress members might support the ban, the National Rifle Association (NRA) suggested only “additional regulations.”

Sixties Scoop

“A class-action lawyer is applauding the federal government’s decision to give Sixties Scoop adoptees financial compensation.”

Jillian Taylor, “Sixties Scoop settlement ‘in the best interest of all class members’: Lawyer,” CBC News, October 6, 2017

The Sixties Scoop took place in parts of Canada in the 1960s, in which children of Aboriginal peoples were “scooped up” from their families and placed in foster homes or adoption. The practice seems to have been along the same lines of the residential school system that was in effect from the 1880s until 1996. The idea was to “educate” these children on “Euro-Canadian and Christian values so they could become part of mainstream society.”

Twinkie defense

“In reality, the Twinkie defense is a form of diminished capacity defense.”

Robin L. Barton, “Understanding the So-Called ‘Twinkie’ Defense,” The Crime Report, October 5, 2017

The Crime Report says the term Twinkie defense was coined by the media during the 1978 coverage of the trial of Dan White, “who was charged with murder for the shooting deaths of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.” The defense “presented evidence that White suffered from mental illness, including depression,” which was further exacerbated by his “excessive consumption of junk food—including Twinkies.”

Since then the Twinkie defense has become “shorthand for any defense in which the accused blames the consumption or use of some substance for his or her actions.”

gastfreundschaft

“No matter what form they take, the common denominator for the best German bars — besides beer, wurst and sauerkraut — is a sense of what’s called ‘gastfreundschaft,’ says Marco Santomauro, the general manager of New York City’s Paulaner Brauhaus.”

Albert Stumm, “Best German bars around the world,” CNN, October 10, 2017

Gastfreundschaft is a German term that means cozy and homey, says CNN, but also “being surrounded by good people that you like.”

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, your go-to place for the most interesting words of the week. The latest: in the better mood, forensic fallacy, too many storms.

mood repair

“Even weirder is if you ask people why they’re sitting down in front of the screen in the first place or why they’re picking a particular television show or film, they’ll explicitly mention what’s known as ‘mood repair.’”

Jessica Firger, “Why ‘This Is Us’ Makes You Cry So Much,” Newsweek, September 29, 2017

Mood repair is the attempt to shift one’s mood from negative to positive, or to avoid negative feelings. While some mood repair strategies can lead to procrastination — “I imagine that cleaning my house is boring so I’ll watch TV instead”  — it can also be used to complete those dreaded tasks, such as imagining a clean house. The mood repair strategy of recalling positive autobiographical memories has been shown to improve sad moods.

wayfinding

“Hawkins said the welcome sign is part of what’s called wayfinding — giving the city its own brand and letting visitors and residents know what the community has to offer.”

Bob Gross, “Signs help St. Clair toot its own horn,” The Times Herald, October 2, 2017

According to the Society for Experiential Graphic Design, wayfinding refers to “information systems that guide people through a physical environment and enhance their understanding and experience of the space.” In cities, wayfinding involve “signage and information systems for both pedestrians and motorists, who each have unique challenges navigating streets and roadways.”

chicken pickin

“I’ve worked on different approaches to chicken pickin’ techniques for years, and I love to incorporate this distinct sound into metal-style solos.”

Mike Orlando, “Using Country-Style ‘Chicken Pickin’ in Metal,” Guitar World, October 2, 2017

Chicken pickin’, says Guitar World, is a “distinct country-style [guitar] picking approach.” It involves “hybrid picking,” a technique in which “one alternates between notes picked with a downstroke in a conventional manner and notes that are fingerpicked.” It’s perhaps named for the chicken’s pecking motion.

CSI effect

“Despite that, the shows have led to a so-called ‘CSI effect’ in court cases where jurors expect forensic evidence to be presented.”

Melissa Locker, “John Oliver Casts Josh Charles as ‘CSI: Crime Scene Idiot’ on Last Week Tonight,” TIME, October 1, 2017

The CSI effect refers to the expectation created by forensic television shows that “every trial must feature high-tech forensic tests,” says NPR, and that the lack of such tests might lead juries to wrongfully acquit guilty defendants.

500-year storm

“Allison was what’s known as a 500-year storm.”

Brittanie Shey, “Houston after Harvey,” Curbed, October 2, 2017

A 500-year storm or flood is one that has only .2% chance of occurring in any given year. Houston has already seen three 500-year floods in the past three years.

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, your go-to place for the most interesting words of the week. The latest: a big boy pants party, an activist generation, getting comfortable for the big sleep.

breeching ceremony

“Today, almost all Western children start wearing pants of some sort at an early age, but for centuries a little boy’s first donning of trousers was momentous, worthy of celebration. This meant a ‘breeching’ ceremony or party.”

Natasha Frost, “For Centuries, People Celebrated a Little Boy’s First Pair of Trousers,” Atlas Obscura, September 18, 2017

Back in the day, at least in Western society, boys and girls both wore dresses — that is until the boys turned between four and eight. Then out came the trousers, and with great fanfare. This breeching ceremony, says Atlas Obscura, “seems to have started in the United Kingdom sometime in the middle of the 16th century, and then made its way across the Atlantic with early European migrants.” By the early 20th century, the practice died off, “perhaps in part because changes in laundry technology made washing soiled pants—after inevitable childhood accidents—a bit easier.”

386 generation

“This translates into rage against Korea’s political left, much of which comprises what’s called the ‘386 generation.’”

Kelly Kasulis, “Inside Ilbe: How South Korea’s angry young men formed a powerful new alt-right movement,” Mic, September 18, 2017

On the cusp between baby boomers and Generation Xers, the 386 generation in Korea refers to those who were “in their 30s in the 1990s, went to college in the 1980s and were born in the 1960s,” says Mic. They were also known for “driving the democracy movement in the 1980s, which railed against oppressive dictatorial presidents who slaughtered protesters, censored the media and tortured college students.”

grave-casual

“In other words, people dying today are buried in what you might call grave-casual.”

Katie Heaney, “What Your Future Burial Outfit Says About You,” Racked, September 18, 2017

Think business casual, only deader. For baby boomers, says Racked, “self-expression is more important than social status or propriety,” even six feet under. So instead of suits and dresses, they might opt for “a beloved sweater, the jersey of a favorite sports team, or even jeans.” The term business casual, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, originated around 1968.

female athlete triad

“I don’t remember them ever talking about the female athlete triad or anything related to it. … It destroyed my collegiate career.”

Christine Yu, “The Condition That’s Quietly Sidelining Female Athletes,” Outside, September 15, 2017

The term female athlete triad seems to have originated in the late 1990s, says Outside. The American College of Sports Medicine described it as “three distinct conditions: disordered eating, amenorrhea (the absence of a period), and osteoporosis.” It “can contribute to long-term health issues like stress fractures, infertility, and impaired cardiovascular health.”

Pao effect

“That’s what some women have been doing since Pao filed her lawsuit in 2012, putting their careers on the line to call out companies and individuals that engaged in discrimination — and got away with it. In Silicon Valley, it’s called the ‘Pao effect.’”

Jessica Guynn, “It’s called the ‘Pao effect’ — Asian women in tech are fighting deep-rooted discrimination,” USA Today, September 19, 2017

Investor Ellen Pao is known for accusing her one-time employer, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, “of not promoting her because of her gender and retaliating against her for complaining,” says USA Today.

Asians and Asian Americans hold “41% of jobs in Silicon Valley’s top companies,” and while “Asian women hold fewer of those jobs than Asian men, they’re employed in far greater numbers than other women of color.” However, research has shown “that Asian women report experiencing as much bias, and sometimes more, than other women do,” and are the least represented demographic group “in the executive suite relative to their percentage in the workforce.”

Welcome to Word Buzz Wednesday, your go-to place for the most interesting words of the week. The latest: not to be confused with a horcrux, a delicious untranslatable, scared man in the metaphorical castle.

hapax

“The Satyricon contains a number of hapaxes, including ‘bacalusias’ (possibly ‘sweetmeat’ or ‘lullabies’) and ‘baccibalum’ (‘attractive woman’).”

Maya Nandakumar, “How Do You Decode a Hapax? (Also, What’s a Hapax?),” Atlas Obscura, September 7, 2017

A hapax legomenon, says Atlas Obscura, is “a word that occurs only once in a text, an author’s oeuvre, or a language’s entire written record.” Honorificabilitudinitatibus, being able to achieve honors, is one of Shakespeare’s most famous hapaxes. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, hapax legomenon translates from Greek as “once said,” where hapax means “once only” and legomenon is a form of legein, “to say.”

sobremesa

“When you do this at home, it’s wonderful. When you do this at a restaurant, at least an American restaurant, you may get dirty looks from your server.”

Robin Shreeves, “8 foreign food words English doesn’t have,” Mother Nature Network, September 7, 2017

Sobremesa translates from Spanish as “over the table,” says Mother Nature Network, and means to stay at the table chatting long after the meal is done. Other foodie untranslatables include the Telugu engili, meaning food that has been bitten into; the Norwegian uteplis, enjoying a drink in the subshine; and the Georgian shemomechama, continuing to eat when already full.

wanchan

“The lead schoolgirl experiences ‘Wanchan Wandoki’ when her friends change her profile in a way that prompts her boyfriend to call her.”

Oona McGee, “Learn Japanese schoolgirl vocabulary with new video from Line,” SoraNews24, September 10, 2017

Wanchan is a transliteration of the English “one chance,” says SoraNews24. Other Japanese schoolgirl slang includes amore, “I love you,” and NHK, an acronym which comes from ni no ude, hippate, kiss, or “upper arm, pull in, kiss.”

grossophobia

“The day before I meet her a councillor under Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, called Gabrielle to ask whether she would consider organising the capital’s first anti-grossophobia (sizeism) day.”

Stefanie Marsh, “Gabrielle Deydier: what it’s like to be fat in France,” The Guardian, September 10, 2017

Grossophobia refers to the irrational fear of fatness or obesity. Grosso– ultimately comes from the Late Latin grossus, “thick, coarse.”

coward’s castle

“Shackles could be applied to the so-called ‘coward’s castle’ of unfettered parliamentary privilege following Rob Pyne’s repeated and unprecedented claims of local government corruption.”

Chris Calcino, “Rob Pyne’s repeated corruption claims under parliamentary privilege could lead to change,” The Cairns Post, September 7, 2017

Coward’s castle is Australian slang referring to parliament when it’s “used as an arena in which to vilify and abuse others while under parliamentary privilege.” The Online Etymology Dictionary says the term means “a pulpit,” because “a clergyman may deliver himself therefrom without fear of contradiction or argument.”