2010s

№ 036 聖地巡礼 seichi junrei “Pilgrimage to sacred sites” — except the sacred sites are the real-world locations of anime scenes. The devotion is not entirely a joke. 2010s № 035 ぼっち botchi A clipped word for being alone that slowly stopped being sad. It may descend from a word for a monk. 2010s № 034 チート chīto English “cheat” means fraud. Japanese チート means you’re so good it feels unfair — and it’s a compliment. 2010s № 033 タピる tapiru “To tapioca”: a verb meaning “drink bubble tea,” born from a boom and buried with it. Lifespan of the word: roughly one boom. 2010s № 032 マウントを取る maunto o toru “Taking the mount” — a fighting term for the subtle art of establishing superiority over a friend, mid-conversation. 2010s № 031 既読スルー kidoku surū Being left on read — but as a named social offense. Two characters on a screen, 既読, created a new way to hurt someone. 2010s № 030 バズる bazuru English “buzz” plus a Japanese verb ending: to go suddenly, gloriously viral. The fate every word in this collection once had. 2010s № 029 ガラケー garakē Japan’s flip phones were only given their name — “Galapagos phone” — after the smartphone arrived to replace them. Some things get named at their funeral. 2010s № 011 エモい emo-i English “emotional” plus one Japanese letter — a word for feelings that have no name. 2010s № 010 草 kusa It means LOL. The reason involves grass growing across your screen. 2010s № 003 映える / インスタ映え insuta-bae (インスタ映え) · bae-ru (映える) An old word for “to shine” was reborn by a photo app — and grew a brand-new verb. 2010s