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« What’s O.J.'s Next Gig? A Knife Convention? | Main | The Lobby Bone Is Connected to the House Bone… »
Friday
Sep302005

What Do You Call No-Bid Contracting? Halliburtin’.

DateFriday, September 30, 2005 at 06:21AM

nast.gifQuote:   "Lobbyists were trolling for hurrigains almost before New Orleans flooded." Term used in Pseudodictionary.com, a site dedicated to made-up words

Figure of Speech:   neologism (NEE oh loh gism), the new word

What’s a $200 billion hurricane windfall with no oversight?  That kind of money merits its very own word,  so we submitted "hurrigain" to Pseudodictionary, a website that boasts more than 20,000 neologisms.

Three easy ways to coin a neologism:

  • Base it on a name (a figure called an eponym)
  • Change a part of speech (an anthimeria)
  • Combine two words in a punning fashion. That's what we did here.

Snappy Answer:  "And we'll call no-bid contractors villainaires."

Got a snappier answer?  Email Figaro.

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