The 2007 Word of the Year at Webster’s New World College Dictionary is: grass station Last year's Word of the Year was crackberry, named for the addictive quality of Blackberrys.
Grass station, a pun on "gas station," refers to a theoretical fill-up spot in the not-too-distant future; it reflects America's growing love affair with hybrid cars and vegetable-based fuels (and words), including ethanol and biomass fuels—some of which really are distilled from plain old grass—said Webster’s New World editors.
I too have a new word that I think I should pass on to the editors at Webster's New World: Disneyfication. It describes the process of making Americans believe that there is no danger in the world, just the way life is in Disney World. Disneyfication resolves people of all responsibility in protecting themselves in the real world because they are under the notion that some larger entity with big ears is watching over them. Even more so, it causes people to be irate if someone or something doesn’t look out for them, even in situations where one would think that common sense would come into play.
Because of Disneyfication, people act as if the bears in national parks don’t bite, because in their minds the bears are really just big, playful singing animals. A cup of hot coffee doesn’t burn because they believe some larger corporate entity has taken pains to ensure that the coffee is the perfect temperature for sipping, and not burning.
Unfortunately, Disneyfication can sometimes lead to accidents, because in reality there really is no big entity with ears looking over you, you big moron! Despite this fact, when accidents do happen, people and lawyers and judges still act under the premise that the world really is like Disney World. Instead of gently chiding people for trying to pet the wild animal with big teeth, or for stupidly placing a hot cup of liquid between their legs in a moving car, they perpetuate Disneyfication by rewarding people with large sums of money for being delusional.
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