Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Steve Evans: 1 Neologism and 3 Language Samples

I went to get a new ETSU student ID yesterday morning (July 13) and asked where a certain office was located. The man at the desk provided me with a pamphlet - one side was a map of the campus; the other, various advertisements on ETSU BUC$. I’m not sure if these should be three separate neologism contributions or not, but the usage for each is unique. So maybe this is one neologism entry and three language usage samples!

1. ID BUC$

2. BUC$ Accounts

3. BUC$ Deposits

There is a distinctive play on words here, along with the formation of a "new" word. A common term for currency is "buck," i.e. - "my account totaled twenty bucks [$20]." In addition, the term Buc is short for Buccaneer, the ETSU mascot. These two ideas are combined. Here, a student can use his or her student ID as a form of campus "debit card," spending their BUC$. An interesting twist is the substitution of the letter S with the dollar sign - $, denoting both the plural and currency.

1 comment:

Priscilla said...

That's interesting. Good to know that