What do you call a painfully obsolete cellphone? It's a "Brickberry."


The LA Times‘s Dan Neil (one my favorite journalists) did an article this morning on the new Cultural Dictionary, just published by the agency Cramer-Krasselt. In an effort to help their clients stay up to speed in our rapidly shifting cultural tidepool, they eavesdrop on subway passengers’ conversations, scope out text messages and jot down gems from pick-up basketball games.

Then they compile their findings into a guide for the less initiated.

Here are a few beauts:

Pinkwashers (n.): Certain companies that specifically use support for breast cancer research to promote products or services.

Freedomlawn (n.): Residential land permitted or designed to contain a variety of plants other than manicured grass, especially when containing plant life that occurs without cultivation, chemicals or cutting.

Precycling (v.): Purchasing products based on how recyclable they are.

Micro-boredom (n.): What we used to call downtime is now increasingly filled by fiddling with mobiles or BlackBerrys. Those who market these devices, or the services they use, see it as an opportunity to sell us something.

Read the whole article here.