Definition: Sangamon County Republican Leader

A Sangamon county Illinois Republican leader is someone who bitterly complains about the corruption of Chicago machine Democrats, mostly out of jealousy that their own corrupt machine isn't in charge of state patronage jobs and contracts anymore.

Definition: South Loop

South Loop: A rapidly expanding neighborhood on the southern edge of downtown Chicago, plus points further south which prefer to be associated with the downtown loop rather than other South Side neighborhoods.

ex: "My new restaurant is two miles south of Congress, but I'm calling its location South Loop so northenders won't be afraid to come."

Getting jealous of the Droidfriend

Droidfriend: A Droid phone which becomes the main object of its owner's affection.

Used in a sentence: My girlfriend keeps ignoring me to play with her new Droid phone and I don't like that she giggles when it vibrates.

High Fructose Cornholio

I came up with this addition to Will's Dictionary when thinking of a name for my trivia team last night. We had a great time and helped raise money for Springfield's Phoenix center.

High Fructose Cornholio: A state of hyperactivity triggered by consumption of high-fructose corn syrup. It replaces the term "sugar high" as high-fructose corn syrup has become an omnipresent substitute found in most processed foods.

Schadenfielde

Schadenfielde

Definition: Gleeful pleasure taken by the citizens of Springfield Illinois upon hearing of the Governor's shameful and humiliating arrest.



(AP/SJR photo)


Used in a Sentence:
After years of Springfield feeling abused by the Governor, the storefront signs and jubilation in downtown bars were predictable displays of schadenfielde.


Does anyone have stories about blatant displays of schadenfielde? It was everywhere today. Feeling it yourself?

McNewspeak

The novel 1984 describes Newspeak as "the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year."

"The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc, but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought—that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc—should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words."

From a recent news article:

McDonald's Corp. is reviving its campaign to ditch the dictionary definition of "McJob," this time setting its sites on the vocabulary of Britons. The world's largest fast food company said Tuesday it plans to launch a campaign in the U.K. this spring to get the country's dictionary houses to change current references to the word "McJob."

Remember that 1984 was meant to apply to any totalitarian government at any time in any place. Where are the forces of control and repression in today's society?

Envirobutalists

Every time there's a proposal that would help improve our environmental quality of life we see the emergence of a strange animal I like to call the Envirobutalist. These are people who say they support the environment but they always have a reason why they can't support whatever action is being proposed that day.

We saw this during the recent debate about the clean energy agreement in Springfield. I heard sentiments like, "I support wind power but not if it will cost us any money." "I support cleaning the air but not in this case because I don't like the tactics effectively used by the Sierra Club."

During election season the envirobutalists sound a lot like environmentalists. They're nice to listen to but they won't be there when you need them. The trick is to watch their record and ask for specific commitments on the issues. The devil is in the details.

Definition: Conventional Wisdom

The repetition of inoffensive inanity from those with too little creativity or insight to disperse their own wisdom. Most commonly heard from those paid very well for their opinions.

Definition: TV News

Television news is a broadcast of that information deemed appropriate for mass consumption by anyone with enough money to own a television station.
Sports, weather and violent crime stories are deemed appropriate. Unfiltered messages from union leaders, peace activists, and anyone opposed to neoliberal free trade policies are not.

With a nod to Ambrose Bierce.