The latest Collin's (British) English Dictionary has just appeared. Among many new words it has such essentials to understanding as 'chav' :' a young working-class person who dresses in casual sports clothes'[ derogatory, Southern England] ( perhaps from Romany 'chavi' a child ) and 'Chelsea tractor' .That's a big SUV so called because it should belong on a farm but is only seen in fashionable Chelsea , London

Some of the following may be American, by the sound of it. What do you think these are:
1)Burberry ape
2)Cotton-wool generation
3)dog-whistle politics
4)jet-to-let
5)kisspeptin
6)prehab
7)retox
8)sunsetting
9) to tigger
10) wiki (in computing) ?

Interesting list. For the most part I don't have a clue.

#8 ("sunsetting") suggests the American medical slang term "sundowning," which refers to the phenomenon whereby otherwise lucid elderly patients who are admitted to hospitals become mentally confused after dark. Any connection?

I was in the UK during the election, so I picked up "dog-whistle politics".

I wonder if this term will catch on - politicians have been doing it for ages, without needing a name for it. The idea is that a policy can be presented in a way that will be heard differently by different kinds of voter. A crude example would be (as the Tories did) to talk about controlling immigration, which is understood by some as "keeping out racial minorities" (though they wouldn't put it that delicately).

Bush does it, too, apparently, working Christian-fundamentalist key words and phrases into his speeches:

'The use of the phrase, "wonder-working power" -- there was much made of the fact that that was a clever way of signaling, "I'm one of you guys" to evangelicals at the same time it sounded neutral to the rest of the population. I've heard that some evangelicals were actually upset by that, because he took a sacred hymn and used it for secular purposes. So I don't know whether that worked the way it was supposed to work or not. And I think it probably points out that using religious rhetoric is a very dicey thing. It can often cut in ways that you're not expecting.' www.pbs.org

There's a neat defintion in 'The Economist', apparently: "Over the past few weeks, a new expression has entered the Westminster lexicon: dog-whistle politics. It means putting out a message that, like a high-pitched dog-whistle, is only fully audible to those at whom it is directly aimed. The intention is to make potential supporters sit up and take notice while avoiding offending those to whom the message will not appeal." quoted at www.dailykos.com

Dog -whistle politics " the practice of sending out political messages targeted at a particular group of voters and of very little significance to anyone else [ by analogy with a dog whistle with the fact that dogs can hear dog whistles while humans cannot ] Example cited: She described a Government inquiry into child custody as dog-whistle politics to men's groups aggrieved by the Family Court (From the Sydney Morning Herald; The expression is Australian. The Tory party here hired an Australian campaign adviser, so it is likely to be his expression imported into our politics.)
NNN, your version from the Economist is more subtle than Collin's version, and seems closer to the true meaning and how the expression is used in practice It seems more sinister than merely targetting a group with a message irrelevant to others; a dog-whistle cannot be heard at all, the message is not received in full, or at all, by humans, who hear just the sound of air through the whistle and no whistling.

In 1) Burberry is a reference to the brand of clothing, usually incorporating the Burberry check pattern.
In 2) Americans should be told that 'cotton-wool' is what Americans may call 'absorbent cotton', fluffy material used in surgical dressings, or in the bathroom for wiping off make-up and so on.

wiki - refers to wikipedia.org wikipedia.org
It's a piece of code that allows people to change code on a Web page. It's open source.
Wikepedia is an online dictionary edited by user. It comes in a lot of languages.
It is more current than regular dictionaries who don't change that quickly.

Minor correction. Wiki is the name of the type of software used by Wikipedia (and other Wikimedia Foundation sites), but does not refer specifically to it. The first wiki had been around for half a dozen years before Wikipedia.

I decided to do some reading. Not surprisingly, Wikipedia has a page on wiki, which discusses the origins and reveals that Ward Cunningham (creator of the first wiki) coined the term based on the Hawaiian term wiki-wiki, meaning quick and used to refer to airport shuttle buses. This page has a much more concise description of what wiki is all about

Retox sounds like re-intoxicating (as opposed to detox): "falling off the wagon," perhaps.

Yes 'fuse: "Retox:1) vb to embark on a binge of drink, drugs or unhealthy food after a period of abstinence 2) n. such hedonistic excess [cited example: 'But what, in the name of Betty Ford, can a 24 hour retreat do for five men who have spent their adult lives in retox ?' The Times ]

BTW #5 Kisspeptin is so appropriately named !

#8 Sunsetting is a rather negative activity related to computer , particularly software, development but also refers to a practice in lawmaking.

Is sunsetting a planned phase-out? In computers or software development, this might negatively refer to planned obselescence whereby the customer is "stuck" with paying for upgrades to newer versions.

No idea on "kisspeptin" - surely it's not the practice of kissing one's love interest while consuming Pepto-Bismal

I knew Burberry Ape!

I don't know what Kisspeptin means in your dictionary but it is a peptide which is a the fancy schmanzy name for 2 amino acids that are joined together by a bond. It regulates the reproductive system.

Pre-hab might be for preventing the addiction to drugs and alcohol?

To-Tigger - bounce around like a fool?

6)prehab - This could mean to live together prior to marriage, or possibly refer to a sort of "trial marriage."

I think Sunset laws are those that expire after a certain date. To be in effect after that date, they would have to be renewed. An example would be many provisions of the (ironically named) Patriot Act.

'Sunsetting: 1) the practice of discontinuing sales and technical support of a particular software or hardware product 2) the practice of inserting a sunset clause ( a clause specifying a date on which the law etc will expire unless renewed ) into a regulation, piece of legislation etc' DG It seems to be a feature of terrorism law. Not only your Patriot Act but our Prevention of Terrorism Act has just such a clause. The word may be new but sunsetting itself isn't.We have one Act which has to be renewed every year and has been for centuries. It's the snappily named Consolidated Funds Bill that is first on the list. It enables the government to collect taxes and organise the nation's finances and is passed without demur. It does however give an opportunity for a general debate.


'Kisspeptin: a protein molecule produced by the KISS-1 gene that has recently been found to trigger the onset of puberty' (!)

And the others?

'cotton-wool generation' is Australian and now conservative British: ' children and teenagers of today, viewed as having been over-protected when growing up [from the practice of wrapping fragile things in cotton wool; cotton batting/ absorbent cotton; to protect them ]'

'jet-to-let; relating to the practice of buying a home abroad as an investment' This is a marked and new phenomenon of recent years. Air travel from Britain to many mainland European destinations is extraordinarily cheap and in many places the property prices are very low compared to here. So even ordinary people, who are only comfortably off, buy property to let, mostly for seasonal lets.

'Pre-hab: a programme of exercises intended to prevent sports injury' So it is like a trial marriage, right? Well, it is if you think of emotional injury too

Burberry Ape; You know him, huh. Georgia? Could be you know an American equivalent?
'Burberry ape:Another word for chav' (see the original post above in this thread)The name, modelled on Barbary ape,is apt because these youngs people often wear Burberry clothing. Burberry here got an unfortunate image as a result.It became associated with soccer hooligans from this group too. So, far from being what the rich or stylish 'Sloane' like Princes Diana wore in Chelsea or Knightsbridge, it is now the standard uniform only of Japanese tourists there!

'To tigger :to damage (electronic) equipment beyond repair, especially as a result of tinkering' [ from the bouncy Tigger in Winnie the Pooh, whose happy, well-meaning bouncing about was likely to damage anything he came into contact with ]

In Scotland, the soccer casuals wore Pringle.

I've heard "twelve o'clock flashers" as a description for people who don't understand electronic equipment. It sounds rude, but it simply means that every device in their house - from microwave to DVD-player - doesn't display the time, but just flashes '12:00'.

Fred-
Well Burberry is still considered apparel for the socialites and the rich and famous here. We don't have "chav's" running around and wearing it....unless you consider "wannabes" wearing the designer knock-off!

The company , Burberry has an American CEO. She brought the company round from being a staid conservative firm that supplied raincoats which were still essentially the same as those issued to officers in WWI ('trench coats') and not much else to being seen as a fashionable, trademark check pattern on all manner of clothes and accessories. In its earlier form the company supplied every sloane, her mother, her father and her older brothers, the Queen and so on, with their rainwear. Of course in doing that she risked the products being taken over as uniform for 'chavs'.