For People Who Like New Words

WARCHALKING~The name refers to chalk symbols that indicate to those in the know that an unsecured wireless networking station is nearby that can be used to tap into a corporate network and get illicit free Internet access. The term and the code were created by Matt Jones in the UK, based on the symbols that tramps and hobos once chalked on walls and doors to pass on information to others about houses to avoid or where a meal was to be had. Within days of appearing on his web site, the idea had been picked up by SlashDot in the USA and his symbols had been seen in London, New York, and Seattle.
"This is just the most recent of a set of terms which is threatening to turn war into a geek prefix meaning something like “attempting to gain unauthorised network access”. The first was the 1980s term war dialling for the way that hackers systematically dialled telephone numbers in search of a modem that might give them network access. More recent examples include war driving (driving around with a portable computer, looking for unsecured wireless networks) and warwalking (the same idea, but on foot). In a sign of its vitality, warchalking has already given rise to the parody terms chalkchalking, pubchalking, and blogchalking and it is being seriously suggested that the symbols should also mark legitimate access points.
Warchalking’s rise to infamy has even been given an air of governmental legitimacy, at least in the US: the state of Utah is planning on using the warchalking symbols on 250 government buildings.
IRRITABLE MALE SYNDROME~This term was coined by Gerald Lincoln, a researcher at the Medical Research Council in Edinburgh, and came to public notice in Britain in early March. Presumably he, or the MRC’s press officer, coined it on the analogy of irritable bowel syndrome. Dr Lincoln claims that men of any age who suffer stress can experience sudden drops in testosterone level, making them bad-tempered, nervous, or easily reduced to tears. One suggestion is that testosterone replacement therapy may restore men to their usual state (whatever that is). The idea has received what one may describe as a mixed reception, with comment from the female of the species being particularly acerbic.
RECREATIONAL GRIEF~The British think tank Civitas published a report this week under the title Conspicuous Compassion. Its author, Patrick West, argues that public outpourings of grief, such as those after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and following a number of recent child murders, show that society has not become more caring or altruistic, but more selfish. He asserts that what seem to be public signs of caring—such as wearing coloured ribbons, signing Internet petitions, and carrying banners saying “Not In My Name”—are part of a culture of ostentatious caring which is about feeling good, not doing good; of projecting one’s ego and thereby showing others what a deeply caring individual you are, not actually doing anything that makes a difference.
DOG-WHISTLE POLITICS~Australians will be familiar with this term for a type of targeted political campaign message, since it has been known there since at least 1997. It has started to appear in Britain during the current election campaign because of the Australian political guru Lynton Crosby. He ran four campaigns for John Howard before transferring his person and his skills to the UK and another Howard, the leader of the Conservative party, Michael Howard. The phrase refers to a campaign message that will not cause general offence, but which contains a coded message to which sympathetic voters will respond, in the same way that a dog will hear an ultrasonic whistle inaudible to the humans around it.

I just randomly picked a couple for you but there are hours of amusement here at World Wide Words, the site of Michael Quinion who writes about International English from a British viewpoint. For the past decade he has been a field researcher and advisor to the Oxford English Dictionary and was writer of a third of the second edition of the Oxford Dictionary of New Words .