The writing prompts invite postcrossers to write about a different topic on their postcards’ messages every month. These are just suggestions though — if you already know what you want to write about, or the recipient gives you some pointers, that’s great too!
We have a forum topic for people to contribute writing prompt suggestions for us, and Heather (aka HeatherSuncoast) picked a fun one. If you look at the dictionary Merriam-Webster’s website, you can find out the words that entered the English language in the year you were born.
Perusing the year I was born, there are a lot of worthy candidates. I’m quite taken by the word “bombogenesis” (the rapid intensification of a storm caused by a sudden drop in atmospheric pressure), and as a biologist, I’m fascinated to see that we started talking about "DNA phenotyping“ (the process of predicting various things about an organism, such as how it will look, based on a DNA sample alone). It’s also the first year the word ”cybernaut" was used, which seems pretty old-fashioned now.
But the one that surprised me was the word “extremophile”. An extremophile is an organism that lives under extreme environmental conditions, like in a volcanic hotspring or under the ice caps, where most organisms wouldn’t survive. They’re pretty astounding when you think about the kind of conditions they live under, and they’re also responsible for some really beautiful sights, like the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone (pictured), because they create such vivid colours. I was surprised that we didn’t have a word for this kind of organism until 1989!
What about you? Did you find a word that you love, introduced in the year you were born? Or something that seemed appropriate? We’d love to hear your stories, in the comments here and on your postcards this month!
73 comments so far
Ive got a few ones :)
I‘m sitting in my DIRECTOR‘S CHAIR - with my brand new STILETTO HEELS - while I‘m DIGITIZING my ideas to contruct an ADVENTURE PLAYGROUND for children to play with their SKATEBOARDS or SWAN BOATS. I feel like a MAIN MAN while drinking my ICE WINE !
best wishes to all postcrossers 😻
I might need to curl up with my SECURITY BLANKET in a WAY-OUT TIME WARP and see if this is PROCESSIBLE , or is it ZILCH.
Happy holidays to you all!
Ballpoint pen
B and B
Cyclo-cross
Fish Stick
Overqualified
Stiletto heel
And after that, I have (also introduced that year) a Tensionheadache !
1. an observation in office organization: the number of employees increases at a fixed rate regardless of the amount of work produced.
2. an observation in office organization: work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
I find particularly noticeable in government bureaucracies, but present among all human groups. I wonder if true in other creatures.
They are dogs that are a cross between a Chihuahua and a dachshund!
Quite cute don't you think?
But I was most astonished that the word "holidays" was first used in 1961. I thought it is a very old english word...
Big-box
Clap back
Cyberculture
Gift card
Internet Service Provider
Microplastic
McMansion
Mani
Spam
Tighty-whities
twentysomething
World Wide Web
- I feel so seen 😁
Won't ever need to read a horoscope again 😅
3D printing
augmented reality
home page
flash drive
e-zine
photoshop
And the most surprising words LGTB studies and transphobia, already in the early 1990s!
As a linguistics major and general lover of words, I found it appropriate that "retronym" and "Wanderwort" were both added to the dictionary in my birth year. :)
I was a talent agent for 10 years, a film critic for three and a movie buff my whole life.
Being a BEATNIK I‘m not eager for a CANCER STICK and ANTIPSYCHOTICS. Looking for BIGFOOT I‘m having a FROZEN YOGURT and HALLOUMI. Now I‘m off for a GAME SHOW, cause my GENETIC CODE looks like a LAUNDRY LIST in LINEAR REGRESSION, absolutely not MACHINE-READABLE. So MASTER CHIEF PETTY OFFICER, could I have some MELATONIN, please? There‘s a PANIC ATTACK coming soon and I‘m afraid of PARALANGUAGE. If I‘ll try PSYLOCYBIN, will that turn me into a SEX KITTEN? (Never heard that word before, and I definitely don‘t like it.) Am I not a SMART-ASS? I think my SOFTWARE needs HAIR SPRAY and TANDOORI, just to prevent a TRANSIENT ISCHEMIC ATTACK. Take care, yours, ZEITGEBER
I plan to use the lists for a holiday game this month. I will:
1. Print off the year list for each family member.
2. Cut up each word or phrase; put them all into an envelope.
3. Provide each family member with their envelope, a piece of paper and a pen.
4. Timer will be set for 5 minutes. Each family member will create a paragraph using as many of the words as they can. It has to make [some] sense.
Prizes:
1. For the one(s) who use the most words.
2. For the one who gets the most laughs.
3. For the one who uses the most words from the list in a row.
4. For any one who decides to create a poem - just because I'm partial to poetry.
If any of you decide to try this game, please PM me if --
1. You come up with a different game that you think I might like to try.
2. You have some ideas that alter or improve upon the game.
bird flu, veggie burger gentrify, userfriendly. Others I like from my year are alternative medicine, speed bump , page turner. And there is one word, which is the same in German and I always wondered where it originated, because for me it is so strange is ombudsperson.
I am not so creative to write a text with all these words... But I would love it, if there was such a dictionary for German as well :-)
I am so naïve! Haha!
This is so interesting! Really cool!
The second word was A-fib. I would have thought the word had been around for a longer time.
I was surprised by the words E-book, hyperlink, JPEG and Killer-App in 1988
I am so STRESSED playing this VIDEO GAME!
I am going to the WEIGHT ROOM wearing my favorite YOGA PANTS.
My INKJET printer just ran out of ink!
What is your GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM?
WATERGATE!
LCD!
Cheers Postcrossers!
There is a Despacito Biology Parody song related to evo-devo on youtube. I love that song!
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder - bovine spongiform encephalopathy - anti-HIV - interleukin-6 - shy bladder - selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor - Down (in the meaning for Down-syndrome) - patient zero - yuppie flu - SIV
but also there are some other words too...
in-line skate - palmtop - messenger bag - dad joke - emoticon - FAQ - minitower - goliath bird spider - paintball - scripting language - steampunk - snark - single-payer - thirtysomething - techno ....
Grinch - "a grumpy person who steals joy from other people" - ok, yeah, not a role model then. But Christmas is just a brief time away, and I'm reminded that I really, REALLY need to get those cards written and sent. I grew up watching, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (spoilers - he gave it back!), and singing along with the Grinch song, and laughing at his poor little dog, Max... but I was very surprised that the word only came into play in my birth year. I was sure the Grinch was much older than me!
Lovebug - I use this as a term of endearment with my little dog, Buddy. I talk to him in my best koochie-coo voice, scratch his ears, and tell him that, "my little lovebug is the ONLY bug I like". Although I suppose butterflies and dragonflies are kind of neat - but you can have the rest. Well, of all the ironies, after college, I moved right into the part of the US where the real love-bugs are. And they are indeed bugs!. They are awful little black bugs with a red "tip", that fly around hooked together (let's not tell the kids what's going on there), and there are so many of them, that they get all over the windshield. To make it worse, they are apparently made of super-glue on the inside, because it takes all the Kings horses and all the Kings men about an hour of scrubbing as a team, to get just one of those little nasties off the windshield.
Street-smart - a word I have been able to use many times with relatives or co-workers who astound me with their "book ignorance"; you can always raise an eyebrow at them and offer a silver lining: "You might not ever make it onto Jeopardy, but at least you have street-smarts." My guess is the plural came along later, but that is how I always heard it said, leaving me wondering, "is the singular of that, 'a street smart'?" I'm gonna go look that up.
3-D Printer
Brainfreeze yes!
Mixtape
SIMcard
;) ;)
death metal, French pedicure, FedEx, laptop, VPN, seach engine...
Amazing!
I like it very much!
Two words I found lovely in my year of birth:
DISCO and DOGGIE BAG.
@trenker - we were born the same year it seems.
I was surprised that VideoCasette already came out in 1969 - I was only aware of this technology in my teens.
Loved: tip of the iceberg, vog (airpollution of an erupted volcano), windsurfing!,anti-consumerism (still does not work in this world), BOLLYWOOD!!!, and light pollution, which I think is still a big issue.
Really interesting.
UPCYCLING is the recycling of materials and things with the creation of new functionality for them and an increase in their value. A creative approach to the "new reading" of old things. I hope soon many people will start to properly dispose of garbage and consume less plastic products.
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meme
Apgar score, DEFCON
Other notable words: munchies, pantyhose, queen-size, Saturday night special, skateboard, tipping point
My favorites words from that year are probably retro, scammer, cardio and drag king. Informative:D
HAHAHAHAHA
"March through the institutions" - Gang durch die Institutionen
meaning that people with more progressive idea have to join the existing institutions to change them
"mündige Bürger" - mature citizens - citizens who are informed and not manipulated
"direct democracy" - self explaining today, but back then a shock that "normal citizens" could ever influence politics with a direct, binding vote - even though that was the case for centuries already in our neighboured country Switzerland.
My favourite is probably March Through the Institutions.
What a valuable tool. Thanks for sharing this.
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