Time for the monthly installment: New words to live by. This month’s word is an example of a portmanteau word in which two other words are combined to form a new, third word.
The two words used:
Cop, n. U.S. slang for police officer, starting in the 1840 – 50 time frame. Believed to be short for copper, which is also slang for police officer. Believed by some to refer to the copper buttons on police uniforms. More likely a formation of the verb cop (meaning to take or steal, and still in use in phrases such as “cop a plea”) and the suffix -er, turning a verb into a noun, and then later dropped.
Apocalypse, n. originally a prophetic revelation — particularly in Jewish or Christian writings — in which a cataclysm brings about the final clash of good and evil, in which good is supposed to win.
The new word:
Acopalypse, n. A condition in which the truth is never know and the facts are never revealed. This condition can apply to society, to politics, to religion, or to a general feeling is which the trappings of order are maintained, but the actions creating these trappings and even the results flowing from these trappings are absurd. Example: the recent federal government shutdown. Franz Kafka’s novel The Trial could be considered an example of an acopalyptic novel.
[Editor’s note: other new words to live by can be found by clicking on the tag “new word” or “new words.”]
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