THE TELEGRAPH: The financial crisis has propelled business jargon such as stagflation, ninja loans and funt onto a list of 100 new words and phrases which capture modern life, according to experts.
Stagflation, [sic] is the economic term for stagnant growth and rising inflation, funt means the financially untouchable and ninja loans comes from the abbreviation of No Income, No Job, No Assets.
Other phrases such as jingle mail, which means sending back the keys to the mortgage company when the occupants can no longer make payments on their house, are also a sign of the times according to dictionary expert Susie Dent.
However Miss Dent's Words of the Year book also includes phrases to describe other aspects of modern social life such as nomophobia, the fear of being out of mobile phone contact, nonebrity, a person who enjoys status without anyone really understanding why, and social networking to describe using websites such as Facebook.
Boris Johnson revived cripes during his successful bid for the mayorship of London, boytox was a way to describe cosmetic surgery for men and momnesia is the term for "a pattern of mental confusion and forgetfulness that characterises a mother's first year after giving birth", the book says. Stagflation, Funt and Ninja Loans: Financial Crisis Jargon among Words of the Year >>> By Jessica Salter | October 2, 2008
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More on ‘Words of the Year’ By Vanessa Allen | October 2, 2008
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