Welcome to Word Soup Wednesday! 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.
Creatrix
Bender: “What the hell’s a free will slot?”
Monk: “All robots have such a slot, placed there by the Creatrix herself.”
“Free Will Hunting,” Futurama, August 8, 2012
A creatrix is a female creator, where –trix is the feminine form of –tor. See also dominatrix, aviatrix, rixatrix, and more. Futurama’s Creatrix is also known as Mom, “the owner and CEO of MomCorp,” an Apple-like company.
EKIA
Sloan: “What does EKIA mean?”
Don: “Enemy killed in action.”
“5/1,” The Newsroom, August 5, 2012
The EKIA here refers to Osama Bin Laden. The full message that President Obama received was, “Geronimo EKIA,” where Geronimo was the code name for Bin Laden. Some controversy arose around this code name as Geronimo is “the nickname of a Native American leader considered by many to have been a hero and a freedom fighter.”
get
Maggie: “It’s what’s called a get. It’s promotable.”
“The Blackout Part II: Mock Debate,” The Newsroom, August 19, 2012
A get is, presumably, a hot news story, although some question “whether a real newsroom would consider [an interview with a high school classmate of Casey Anthony] a get worth fighting for.”
greater fool
Sloan: “The greater fool is actually an economic term. It’s a patsy. For the rest of to profit, we need a greater fool, someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their lives trying not to be the greater fool. We pass him a hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.”
“The Greater Fool,” The Newsroom, August 26, 2012
The greater fool theory, also known as survivor investing, “is the belief held by one who makes a questionable investment, with the assumption that they will be able to sell it later to ‘a greater fool.’”
hop the twig
Eva: “He’s put food in my belly and a roof over my head ever since we hopped the twig.”
“Slaughterhouse,” Hell on Wheels, August 26, 2012
While hop the twig more commonly means to pass away or die, it also once meant ‘to run away from one’s creditors, as a bird eludes a fowler, ‘hopping from spray to spray,’” which is the meaning in this context.
imagination inflation
Pierce: “It’s imagination inflation. The agents interrogating Brady told him he had stabbed the judge with the knife so that’s the false memory that he forms. But he didn’t do it.”
“Nemesis,” Perception, August 27, 2012
Imagination inflation refers to the phenomenon of believing a non-existent event has occurred as a result of having imagined it.
knocking shop
Madam: “How the hell are you two skinny chaps gonna protect my knocking shop?”
“Viva La Mexico,” Hell on Wheels, August 12, 2012
A knocking shop is a brothel. Knock was once slang for “to copulate with.” See knocked up.
mauvais dents
Kelly: “From what our ancestors wrote, it’s a vicious killing machine. One of them can wipe out an entire village. But you better be careful. Mauvais dents is like a cat. He’ll watch, he’ll wait.”
“Bad Teeth,” Grimm, August 13, 2012
Mauvais dents translates from the French as “bad teeth” of “bad fangs.”
meatbag
Bender: “Goodbye, sweet meatbags! Sweetbags.”
“Free Will Hunting,” Futurama, August 8, 2012
Meatbag is a derogatory term used by robots for humans. It was first used by Bender in Futurama’s first episode, “Space Pilot 3000“, which premiered on March 28, 1999. We couldn’t find an earlier usage, but if anyone finds one, please let us know.
RINO
Will: “I’m what the leaders of the Tea Party would call a RINO, Republican in Name Only, and that’s ironic because that’s exactly what I think about the leaders of the Tea Party.”
“The Greater Fool,” The Newsroom, August 26, 2012
RINO, pronounced like the animal, rhino, “is a pejorative term that refers to a member of the Republican Party of the United States whose political views or actions are considered insufficiently conservative or otherwise conforming to liberal positions.” While the term Republican in name only has been in use since the 1920s, the acronym arose in the 1990s.
rotgut
Elam: “That there the good stuff, not that rotgut y’all drank.”
“The Railroad Job,” Hell on Wheels, September 9, 2012
Rotgut is “bad or adulterated liquor, injurious to the stomach and bowels; in the United States, specifically, whisky adulterated with deleterious substances to cheapen it while increasing its apparent strength.” The term originated in the 17th century, and is especially significant in this scene as Elam’s drinking partner has a bleeding injury in his “gut.”
sardini
Zoidberg: “I’m having fun. . .and a sardini.”
“Viva Mars Vegas,” Futurama, August 22, 2012
Sardini is a blend of sardine and martini. Other martini blends include vodkatini, appletini, saketini, and our favorite, the bacontini.
sawbones
Doctor: “He needs a more qualified surgeon ma’am, not some battlefield sawbones like me.”
“The Railroad Job,” Hell on Wheels, September 9, 2012
Sawbones is slang for a surgeon, and originated around 1837.
That’s it for this week! Remember, if you see any Word Soup-worthy words, let us know on Twitter with the hashtag #wordsoup. Your word and Twitter handle might appear right here!