2014: A-Z

Neologisms, or words that acquired a buzz or merely some that were in the news or caught our eye, or just got added to standard dictionaries

AAPtard: n A derisive epithet for not just supporters of Aam Aadmi Party but almost anyone whom the bhakts (see below) cannot debate, used by many as a replacement for the descriptive Hindustani word sought to be evoked by Chutzpah (see below)

Acche Din: n Good days that were supposed to have arrived on May 16

Adorkable: n an intellectual person who is nerdy yet endearing

AF: As Fu*k As in 'I am tired AF'

Algorithmic trading: n. Automated trading by computers which are programmed to take certain actions in response to varying market data:

Al desko to eat at your desk

Ant's pants n. Australian. informal An outstandingly good person or thing. like, bee's knees.

Are You Serious? When the disbelief of arrogance is caught on candid camera —a startled Robert Vadra was left incredulously repeating, 'Are you serious? Are you serious? Are you serious?' when a reporter ambushed him with questions about his dubious land purchases at a Gym inaugration

Azam Khan's Buffaloes: ...are more equal than others. More famous than Queen Victoria, in fact, according to the senior minister in UP government, after a massive search operation was carried out to recover the seven buffaloes stolen from his farmhouse in Rampur—dog squads, crime branch sleuths and police personnel of various police stations raided slaughter houses and meat shops to collect clues about the stolen cattle. 

BAE (pronounced Bay) n. [Before Anyone Else] used as a term of endearment for one’s romantic partner.

Bashtag— a hashtag used for critical or abusive comments

Basic: well, um, basically, it means something, um, uninteresting

Bestie, n. A person's best friend; a very close friend

Bhakts, n Namo devotees, breathless cheerleaders, mainly on Twitter and other online fora, ready to employ chosen epithets and slurs against anyone daring to question the Great Leader

Bobos: Bourgeois Bohemians

Boil the ocean: attempting something vastly over-ambitious.

Brick informal Cause (a smartphone or other electronic device) to become completely unable to function, typically on a permanent basis

Budtender n. a person whose job is to serve customers in a cannabis dispensary or shop

BYOD, n. Bring Your Own Device, the policy or practice of allowing employees, customers, etc., to connect to an organization's network using their own smartphones, computers, etc. 

clickbait n (On the Internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page

Click fraud: A type of fraud that occurs on the Internet in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click 

Chutzpah: The Yiddish word that derives from the Hebrew ?utspa  meaning "insolence", "cheek" or "audacity" found a new pronunciation with the film Haider, and in between Shri Yashwant Singh also reminded us that any chu*ia could become CM of Jharkhand

Cinderella Surgery n cosmetic surgery to the feet 

Columbusing n. The act of appropriating, without acknowledgment, a cultural attribute associated with an ethnic group other than one’s own.

Congi n: Online slur used by bhakts for any one who is not pro-BJP

Contactless adj. relating to or involving technologies that allow a smart card, mobile phone, etc. to contact wirelessly to an electronic reader, typically in order to make a payment.

Conscious Uncoupling: An approach to ending a marriage or romantic relationship which emphasizes acceptance of mutual responsibility, the term used by Gwyneth Paltrow and her husband, Chris Martin to announce the end of their marriage in March. 

Coolie n The bhakts were dismissed as code coolies once. But they have hit back with this epithet for anyone who is accused of being sickular, libtard, Congi or leaning towards the 'Khangress'

Cord cutter n A person who cancels or forgoes a pay television subscription or landline phone connection in favour of an alternative Internet-based or wireless service

Couplie n  informal a self-shot of a couple. The selfie is over! Oh good, we hear you cry. But no, it’s just been replaced by the ‘couplie’. 

Devo Max: or Devolution Max one of the many proposals as sops in place of full independence for Scotland

Digital native. n. a person who has learned to use computers as a child

Digital footprint n. The information about a particular person that exists on the Internet as a result of their online activity

Digital redlining idiom discrimination against a customer by a business based on ratings the customer received in the past 

Digital surgery n post production techniques used to make actors appear taller and slimmer, and less wrinkled 

Dox. v. Search for and publish private or identifying information about (a particular individual) on the Internet, typically with malicious intent

Douchebaggery n. obnoxious or contemptible behaviour

Duck face n. An exaggerated pouting expression in which the lips are thrust outwards, typically made by a person posing for a photograph

Ebola: Ebola virus disease (EVD; also Ebola hemorrhagic fever, or EHF), or simply Ebola was the global medical scare in 2014 withthe death toll reaching nearly 7,400, with just over 19,000 people infected across west Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Economic man. n. A hypothetical person who behaves in exact accordance with their rational self-interest

eNREGA n From The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA): Slur used by bhakts against any prolific online critic, accusing them of being on the payrolls of Khangress or AAP or any party that opposes the God's own

Fappening: A portmanteau of "happening" and "fap", the latter of which in turn is an onomatopoeia for masturbation. Popularized by the 2014 celebrity pictures or cloud hacking scandal, also known as "Celebgate". 

Feminine Mufti: What Natwar Singh said Sonia Gandhi sent Priyanka dressed in, to request him to drop the Rahul Gandhi chapter from his memoirs

Flash crash n An extremely rapid decline in the price of one or more commodities or securities, typically one caused by automated trading

Flexitarian, n. A person who follows a primarily but not strictly vegetarian diet 

FML: vulgar slang Fu*k My Life! (used to express dismay at a frustrating or irritating personal situation).

Fraping: The act of "raping" —changing all the details on—someone's Facebook page when they leave it open 

FTW: abbr For The Win

Five second rule. n. A notional rule stating that food which has been dropped on the ground will still be uncontaminated with bacteria and therefore safe to eat if it is retrieved within five seconds 

Fracktivist n. an anti-fracking campaigner  

Genericide n the use of a brand name to mean a class of similar items and the consequent dilution of that brand name’s potency 

Ghar Wapsi: Not conversions, but home-coming, according to the RSS.

Gripe site: a type of website devoted to the critique and or mockery of a person, place, politician, corporation, or institution. 

Haramzadon: Union Minister Niranjan Jyoti added to our lexicon by spelling out how the people of Delhi had two options: Did they want a government of Ramzaadon (followers of Ram) or a government of Haramzadon (those who are illegitimate). She apologised, but the people of Delhi have not spoken, as yet.

Hawt a. Informal spelling of hot

Hell Yeah: This was the "theek hai" phrase of 2015 when Congress spokesperson Americai Narayanan made his television debut on the day of the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly results and declared non-chalantly, American accent very much in place, "If you ask me if there has been corruption in the UPA, hell yeah!" The only other phrase that came close to giving it competition was "Are you serious?"

HENRY: High Earner, Not Rich Yet

Hipster— redefined from its previous definition (‘a person who knows and appreciates up-to-date jazz; a member of the beat generation, 1950s and early 1960s’) to ‘a member of the generation born in the 1980-90s who look down on their native middle-class culture, and self-consciously adopt a bohemian lifestyle and mode of dress’.

Humblebrag n. An ostensibly modest or self-deprecating statement whose actual purpose is to draw attention to something of which one is proud

Ice bucket challenge n. A stunt in which a person films the act of dumping ice water on their head and uploads the video to social media, challenging a friend to do the same and/or donate to charity.

ICYMI: In Case You Missed It 

IDC n. I Don't Care

IIFYM abbr If It Fits Your Macros—a type of diet that allows people to eat what they want as long as it contains the right number of calories and macronutrients (fats, carbs, etc) 

Indyref, n. an abbreviation of ‘independence referendum’, in reference to the referendum on Scottish independence, held in Scotland on 18 September 2014, in which voters were asked to answer yes or no to the question ‘Should Scotland be an independent country?’

In silico adj & adv (Of scientific experiments or research) conducted or produced by means of computer modelling or computer simulation

Jel, a. informal , chiefly British Jealous

Khangress: Khan + Congress. The insinuation being 'Muslim appeasement.' Old slur, a bhakt favourite.

KIPPERS: Kids In Parents Pockets Eroding Retirement Savings

LAME: List of Acronyms/Abbreviations Modi Employs:

ABCD: Adarsh, Bofors, Coal and Damaad

3AKs: AK-47, AK Antony, AK-49 who floated a new party. [Three AKs admired in Pakistan]

B2B – Bharat to Bangladesh

3Ds – democracy, demographic dividend, and demand

5F (Formula for textile industry): Farm to fibre, fibre to fabric, fabric to fashion, fabric to foreign.

FDI: First Develop India

FRTTRC: From Red Tape to Red Carpet

HIT (Formula for Nepal):Highways, Informationways, and Transmissionways.

INCH towards MILES: Indo-China towards Millennium of Exceptional Synergy.

LEALW: Look East and Link West

MOM: No, not what Shashi Kapoor had and Amitabh Bachchan didn't in Deewar, but Mars Orbiter Mission. 

4Ps: People, private, public partnership ["If we want to implement good governance, we must look to P4: People, private, public partnership. We need to move from PPP to PPPP."]

3Ps: Prakash, Paryavaran and Paryatan (light, environment and tourism) [formula for Leh-Ladakh] 

P2G2: Pro-people, good governance

RSVP: Rahul, Sonia, Vadra, Priyanka

RTTRC: Red tape to red carpet

3Ss: skill, scale and speed

3Ss - Samaveshak, Sarvadeshak, Sarvasparshi [What according to him "development should have"]

5Ts — talent, tradition, tourism, trade and technology

LAT: Living Apart Together: the situation of two people in a relationship living in different homes

LDR: Long Distance Relationship

Libtard: n Just like AAPtard, a slur for Liberal + Retard

Life-tracking adj describes wearable gadgets which record daily activities, such as exercise and sleep, and also keep a record of things done during the day

Lolcat (or LOLcat): (on the Internet) a photograph of a cat accompanied by a humorous caption written typically in a misspelled and grammatically incorrect version of English

Love Charger: Apparently, just like a battery charger, from the eponymous song that was a YouTube sensation and Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, "the spiritual leader of the Dera Sacha Sauda sect", is now ready with MSG: ‘Messenger of God', clearly seems set to give competition to Bappi Lahiri when it came to bling, or even profundity of lyrics: "I am so Lucky Because/ You are my Love Charger /... / Billions battery when goes down / You charged up with Love / So strong Your Power Love":

Love Jihad: To paraphrase Arun Shourie, this could be called another name in Muzaffarnagar for what the BJP calls 'development' in Delhi. A phenomenon that stops after voting. [Love Jihad, also called Romeo Jihad, is an alleged activity under which young Muslim boys and men reportedly target young girls belonging to non-Muslim communities for conversion to Islam by feigning love]

MAGPIES: Mature Adults Go Partying In Style

Mahoosive adj British informal Exceptionally big. probably a blend of massive and a phonetic respelling of the first letters of huge.

MAMIL n. British informal Middle Aged Man In Lycra: A middle-aged man who is a very keen road cyclist, typically one who rides an expensive bike and wears the type of clothing associated with professional cyclists

MINT abbr— the countries of Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey considered together as they are thought to be possible emerging economic giants 

Margdarshak: A guide, literally, but when used by the BJP for LK Advani and MM Joshi, it implies being shown the way out the door

Mansplain v (Of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing

Misery index n. An informal measure of the state of an economy generated by adding together its rate of inflation and its rate of unemployment

MH 370: The plane that remains missing: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was a scheduled international passenger flight that disappeared on Saturday, 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia to Beijing Capital International Airport, People's Republic of China.

Mitron: Yes, Modi-speak in Mark Antony mode, for just what it means in Hindi, friends

Modison Square Garden: "In Madison Square today I could see the feeling, the touch and the enthusiasm as it became like a Modison square," Swami Chidanand Saraswati, founder of the Hindu Jain Temple in Pittsburgh said, after listening to the PM. Will forever be remembered for 'May the force be with you!'

Newstrader: Coined by Namo himself in one of his pre-election TV interviews for those journalists who dare to question him

NGL: Not Gonna Lie

Nomophobia n. informal, humorous fear of being without one's mobile phone (not to be confused with Namophobia, about which nothing is humorous)

Normcore n. a trend in which ordinary, unfashionable clothing is worn as a deliberate fashion statement

Obamacare (In the US) an informal term for a federal law intended to improve access to health insurance for US citizens. The official name of the law is the Affordable Care Act or (in full) the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Overshare: v. to disclose too much (personal information) or too many (details) about oneself: 

Parcelcopter n. An unmanned aircraft—a drone used to deliver goods.

Pepperspray:  Not really strong enough to stop the formation of Telangana

Permadeath n. (In video games) a situation in which a character cannot reappear after having been killed

Presstitute: Press + Prostitute. Another pejorative for the journos daring to question the Great Leader; came into prominence last year after being used by former army chief General VK Singh on Twitter

Pulped: the way Penguin wimped out or was Dinanath Batra-ed into withdrawing Wendy Doniger's books

Qajaq: The first Scrabble-sanctioned palindromic word to include a "j" or "q" is an alternate spelling of the more familiar word "kayak"

Queen Photobomb: "Ahhh The Queen photo-bombed our selfie!! #royalty #sheevensmiled #amazing," tweeted Australian Commonwealth Games hockey player Jayde Taylor, with the tweet instantly going viral, adding a new dimension to the last year's word of the year [Photobomb: v. to drop in a photo unexpectedly; the act of accidentally or purposely putting oneself in a photo frame thus diverting attention]

Respawn v (Of a character in a video game) reappear after having been killed

Reverse showrooming n the practice of researching a product online and then going into a store in order to buy it 

Salty: no, not food, but about feeling really stupid. When you know you've been played, you feel salty

Secret Santa n. An arrangement by which a group of friends or colleagues exchange Christmas presents anonymously, each member of the group being assigned another member for whom to provide a small gift, typically costing no more than a set amount

Sepoy n Popularised by Rajiv Malhotra, in describing Indian professors in US universities who opposed Mr Modi's Wharton address last year, calling them "extreme leftists" who "play the same role for America in undermining India's sovereignty as the sepoys did." ('The sepoys were Indian soldiers serving the British army to fight against other Indians')

Shabby chic n. A style of interior decoration that uses furniture and soft furnishings that are or appear to be pleasingly old and slightly worn

Shirtfront (Australian Rules) noun, "A fierce tackle, usually delivered by the shoulder to the chest of an opponent." verb, "The act of delivering such a tackle."

Sickular n What pseudo-secular was to LK Advani is what this is to the bhakts

Simples exclamation. British informal Used to convey that something is very straightforward

SINDIE n (a woman who fits the description of) single income now divorced 

SITCOMs, acronym. Single income, two children, oppressive mortgage

Skiing: not on the slopes but:  'spending the kids inheritance'

SMH abbr informal Shaking (or shake) my head (used in electronic communication to express disapproval, exasperation, frustration, etc.)

Slacktivism, n., informal actions performed via the Internet in support of a political or social cause but regarded as requiring little time or involvement, e.g. signing an online petition or joining a campaign group on a social media website; a blend of slacker and activism

Smugshrug n. ¯\_(?)_/¯ An emoticon representing the face and arms of smiling person with hands raised in a shrugging gesture

Spit take n (Especially as a comic technique) an act of suddenly spitting out liquid one is drinking in response to something funny or surprising:

Spornosexual n. A man who is extremely conscious of his appearance and devoted to cultivating a sexually attractive physique.

Swachh Bharat: At the very mention of which celebrity types start looking for brooms and phone-cameras

TBH: To Be Honest

Telangana: Even Pepperspray could not prevent it and finally on June 2, India's 29th state was carved out from Andhra Pradesh

Textonym—one of two or more words that can be generated by pressing the same key combinations on a mobile phone: 'kiss' and 'lips' are textonyms’

Tiki-taka n Soccer: A style of play involving highly accurate short passing and an emphasis on retaining possession of the ball

TL;DR Too Long, Didn't Read. What you could say about this listing

Uber: n. German for "above", more commonly used for being the best, the top, the supreme, the highest of highest, but the word came into its own after the taxi ride service that was eventually banned

Vape v. Inhale and exhale the vapour produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device: I’d rather people vaped indoors than smoked outside: many smokers have started vaping e-cigarettes to help them cut down (as noun vaping) there’s concern that young people may take up vaping as a less harmful alternative to smoking

WDYT? n What Do You Think?

Woman/Man Crush: n. An intense and typically non-sexual liking or admiration felt for the person of one's own gender

Wrong Target: 'If history students feel Godse aimed the wrong target, they cannot be blamed.' Thus wrote B. Gopalakrishnan, the losing BJP candidate from Chalakudy in Lok Sabha elections, in Kesri, the Malayalam mouthpiece of the RSS, suggesting that Nehru, not Gandhi, should have been Godse's target

X not for Xmas but Good Governance Day

Xlnt a. informal Excellent

YASSSSS – YESSSS, but, like, way better.

Zero: the number of Muslim BJP MPs in Lok Sabha; the number of seats the BSP and the DMK won; also the number of seats the Congress won in 13 states; and, finally, also the number of questions that the Sonia-Rahul duo took after conceding defeat.

A shorter, edited version of this appeared in print