To Mirandize is to inform an arrested suspect of his or her rights. The word derives from the Miranda v. Arizona U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which held that self-incriminating statements made by a crime suspect are not admissible in court unless the suspect is first informed of his or her rights to ... Read more
Multitask
Multitask works as both an adjective and a verb. Its adjectival sense is the original, arising in the early 1960s to describe computing systems in which multiple processes execute simultaneously. The verb sense---to perform multiple tasks at once---came about soon thereafter, as did the participial ... Read more
Svengali
A svengali is a person who controls another’s mind or has the ability to control others, usually with sinister intent. In the 1891 gothic-horror novel Trilby, by George du Maurier, Svengali is a hypnotist who transforms the title character into a famous singer. The book was popular in its time, so ... Read more
Incentivize, incent
To incentivize (or incentivise outside North America) is to motivate using the expectation of a reward. A late-20th-century coinage, the word was originally voguish business jargon, but it has caught on more broadly in this century. Many people object to it, not just because it's new but also ... Read more
One-upmanship
One-upmanship is a spirit of competition in which one tries to stay a point ahead---one up---of the competition, usually figuratively. The word connotes an unwillingness to back off and allow one's competition to keep the upper hand. For instance, dueling tech companies might practice one-upmanship ... Read more
Wonkish, wonky
The adjective wonky has two unrelated senses that are both used throughout the English-speaking world. Its older and more commonly used definition is unstable, defective, unreliable, or wobbly. For instance, a bad knee or a table with loose fittings might be called wonky, as might a person who ... Read more
Gung-ho
Gung-ho is adapted from a Chinese phrase that means, literally, work together. Brought to English during World War II by the American Lieutenant Colonel (later General) Evans Fordyce Carlson, it was originally used to describe a cooperative spirit, but it soon became a Marine battle cry. From this ... Read more
Nebbish
Nebbish is primarily a noun referring to a weak-willed or feckless person, usually male and especially one who is socially inept and lacks self-confidence. The -ish ending makes the word sound like an adjective, though, so the word is also occasionally used in corresponding adjectival senses---that ... Read more
Big-ups
Big-ups (sometimes unhyphenated, sometimes singular) is an idiom that entered American English and, less conspicuously, British English around 1990. It has several meanings, but in the U.S. and Britain, where it started in hip-hop culture, it's mainly used to acknowledge someone or to express ... Read more
Gofer vs. gopher
Gophers are several species of burrowing rodents native to North America. A gofer is an employee who performs menial tasks and runs errands. Gofer is a new word, having arisen in the U.S. in the second half of the 20th century, and it derives from the phrase go for, as in go for coffee or go for ... Read more
