‘Comedy Central likes us! They really like us!’ says Park City-based Addictionary.

PARK CITY, Utah (Apr. 14, 2008) – Every once in a while, something comes along to remind you of the lighter side of politics. Jesse “The Body” Ventura, for example. Or Dana Carvey. Or Stephen Colbert. Or hanging chads. Or Dave Buehler. Or The Political Addictionary.

Wait. What?

The Political Addictionary is a spinoff of The Addictionary – an online dictionary of made up werds – and it just landed on Comedy Central’s political countdown web variety show, Indecision 2008.

Comedy Central will feature one Political Addictionary Werd of the Day and one TOBaW (“There Oughta Be a Word”) challenge per week on the show’s blogsite, www.indecision2008.com.
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The Werd of the Day will be chosen by the show’s producers from user submissions made to the Political Addictionary. Three werds to make the cut since the partnership kicked off are:

iraqnophobia (noun) – Fear of hearing there is no end in sight in Iraq. (Submitted by buffaloquinn)

barackstar (noun) – Any candidate for political office who draws huge, raucous crowds. (Submitted by rebez)

critizen (noun) A legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth who thinks and responds critically, sometimes vehemently, to the statements or actions of elected representatives and government officials. See also “blogger.” (Submitted by polizzi)

The TOBaW will challenge wonks to come up with a werd to fit a definition provided by the Comedy Central writers. The current TOBaw? “To snuff out the Olympic flame before it reaches Beijing.”

“We’re big, big fans of Comedy Central,” said Jim Banister, CEO of SpectrumDNA, the Park City-based studio that created the Political Addictionary. “We were the smart-aleck kids sitting in the back of the class in school who got detention instead of girls. This relationship is the payoff for those hours etching funny words and slogans into wood desks with a pen knife. Seriously. This is great for us.”

There are already hundreds of werds added to the Political Addictionary, and more are added each day. The average user spends about 5 minutes cruising the site.

“The Political Addictionary is a good indicator of the nation’s mood. Anyone can play. Anyone can add new werds, or challenge them. It’s free, and you don’t even have to use your own name,” said Banister. ”In fact, we think ‘Monchichi’ is Monica Lewinsky, but we can’t prove it.”

The Addictionary
The Addictionary was created by a bunch of word nerds in Park City, Utah, who aren’t as much into slang as they are genuine wordplay – not words, but werds. They built The Addictionary on a whim and continue their labor of love, providing lifestyle and niche versions to those who have their own lingo and want to share it: political wonks, moms, pet owners, advertisers and more. What’s your werd?

Contact: Marit Fischer, Base Camp Communications, 801-450-3244, mfischer@basecampcomm.com

The Ski Utah and Winter at Westminster lingo contest challenged word geeks and snow lovers alike: find a better way to say ‘skiing and snowboarding.’

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (Mar. 17, 2008) – The challenge set forth was daunting: come up with one word, one catchall word, to replace the too-long and too-cumbersome term “skiing and snowboarding.”

The 2008 Ski/Snowboard Lingo Contest, sponsored by Ski Utah and Winter at Westminster and hosted on The Addictionary (www.addictionary.org) – an online dictionary of made-up “werds” – ran from Feb. 4 to Mar. 4, 2008.
Hundreds entered their version of the “one werd to rule them all,” vying for the top prize: a Spring Ski Trip to Utah. Hundreds more entered their additions to a general glossary of ski and snowboard lingo, battling it out for prize number two: two lift tickets to The Canyons Resort plus ten t-shirts featuring the best new ski and snowboard werd of 2008.

The werds are in. The celebrity judges – a panel consisting of Annie Fast, Executive Editor of Transworld Snowboarding; Derek Taylor, Editor of Powder; Nathan Rafferty, Ski Utah President; Kendall Card, “Powstash:” and professional skiers Kristen Ulmer and Julian Carr – have considered their options.

Bribes were accepted but then ignored. Cronyism was considered but not committed. After ten epic powder days and long sleepless nights of consideration, the judges have chosen their winners.

The new werd for “skiing and snowboarding,” the grand prize winner of the 2008 Ski/Snowboard Lingo Contest, is:

snowriding: (n) A new winter recreation industry term describing the act of either snowboarding or snow skiing down a slope. (Submitted by: Roberta Stjernholm, of Lakewood, Colo.)

It was a tight race. Runners up include: boardskiing, skoarding and sloping.

And, according to the panel of esteemed judges, the best new snowriding lingo glossary werd is:

gnardonculous: (a) gnarulous and ridonculous. (Submitted by Andrew Howard Johnson, Stamford, Conn.)

Since the definition of the winning werd actually consists of made-up werds, to clarify, gnardonculous is an appropriate synonym for such go-to adjectives as: gnarly, sick, rad and/or ridiculous.

“Gnardonculous has great abbreviation possibilities,” said judge Derek Taylor, editor of Powder magazine. “Like, ‘later, fellow gnards!’”

“I’m with Derek,” said Annie Fast, Executive editor of Transworld Snowboarding. “Gnardonculous took the lead when I tried saying it out loud with a So-Cal accent.”

The other snowriding lingo werds to make the finals include:

Snowcrastinator: (n) One who puts off work and chores intentionally and habitually in favor of skiing;

Glacialis Obsessivus: (n) frozen obsession;

skidgets: (n) those three to seven year old children you see following their ski instructor that look like skiing “midgets;”

snowgasm: (n) the act of participating in pleasurable snow-related activities such as snowboarding or skiing to the point of achieving the ultimate climax; and

Trip the white Fantastic: (v) To gracefully maneuver through frozen particulate precipitation in a coordinated and/or choreographed fashion.

For the full glossary of contest entries, visit http://addictionary.org/Browse/ContestWords/19.

The Addictionary
The Addictionary was created by a bunch of skiers and snowboarders in Park City, Utah, who aren’t as much into slang as they are genuine wordplay – not words, but werds. They built The Addictionary on a whim and continue their labor of love, providing lifestyle and niche versions to those who have their own lingo and want to share it: moms (http://moms.addictionary.org), pet owners (http://pet.addictionary.org), gamers (http://gamer.addictionary.org), politics (http://political.addictionary.org) and more. What’s your werd?

Ski Utah
Ski Utah is the marketing firm owned and operated by the 13 statewide ski resorts that make up the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association. The organization has been creating brand awareness of and demand for the Utah wintersports product since its inception in 1978.

Winter at Westminster
There is no other college semester-away program in the world like Winter at Westminster—a winter program with the perfect balance between the rigors of college and the passion for skiing and snowboarding. College students from all over the country enroll at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah as full-time visiting students. They earn 12–16 transferable credits while riding 70+ days at seven world-class resorts located within 30 minutes of campus. Winter at Westminster allows students to arrange the ultimate class schedule, balancing mid-week skiing and snowboarding with earning transferable credits that will keep them on track for graduation from their home colleges or universities. For more information, visit www.winteratwestminster.com.

PARK CITY, Utah (Feb. 18, 2008) – The Addictionary is an online dictionary of user-created werds – a place where it’s understood that made-up words are sometimes better at saying it like it is than the ones approved by Merriam-Webster.

To help kill some time during the 2007-08 Writers’ Strike, because no one was watching TV anymore, The Addictionary staged a contest, the goal of which was to create the best new werds pertaining to the strike or screenwriting-in-general. The contest, dubbed the “Writer’s Block,” started on Nov. 19, 2007 and closed on the last day of the strike, Feb. 12, 2008.

After much serious and heated debate, the creators of The Addictionary have selected the winners. The top ten werds from The Addictionary Writer’s Block contest are:

1. describification (n) – The removal of creative writers from the entertainment industry’s talent pool, creating a marketplace void and subsequent explosion of brainless reality programming
2. penstationary (n) – the temporary psychological inability to begin or continue a piece of writing in New York
3. typograspical (adj) – of, relating to combating writer’s block by typing whatever comes to mind till the story comes out
4. dialogectomy (n) – the surgical removal of dialogue from a manuscript
5. manustrip (v) – the art of taking your 200K manuscript back down to the reasonable and expected 65K
6. pitique (n) – a kinder critique than merited for a poor piece of literary work
7. scriptease (v) – to write ‘bare bones’ type shows particularly suited to men
8. commarrhea (n) – the condition in which a writer excessively uses commas for punctuation
9. prodiecers (n.p.) – producers who have caused our favorite television shows to die due to lack of cooperation with writers
10. shitcom (n) – a television show whose network producers refused to pay the striking writers more money and thus were left to write the scripts themselves

The winning werd, describification, was submitted by Brandon Burt, a copy editor at the City Weekly, an independent guide to news, arts and entertainment in Salt Lake City, Utah. Burt wins “The “I survived the 2007 Writers’ Strike” prize package and a t-shirt featuring his werd.

“Woohoo!” exclaimed Burt, when he learned of his big W. “I entered the Writer’s Block Contest on a whim. Now I’m glad I did!”

About The Addictionary

The Addictionary is based in Park City, Utah. It’s creators aren’t as much into slang as they are genuine wordplay – not words, but werds. They built The Addictionary on a whim and continue their labor of love, providing lifestyle and niche versions to those who have their own lingo and want to share it: moms, pet owners, gamers, bloggers and more.

What’s your werd?

Ski Utah and Winter at Westminster team up with The Addictionary in an open contest to coin a word for ‘skiing and snowboarding’ both.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (February 4, 2008) – Is there one word out there that describes both skiing and snowboarding? Because, we’ll be honest with you, the industry is lazy and they’re looking for an alternative to the three-word, 21-letter standard.

In an effort to coin this new term, Ski Utah and Winter at Westminster have teamed with The Addictionary (www.addictionary.org), an online dictionary of made up werds, for the 2008 Ski/Snowboard Lingo Contest.

There are two goals and two chances to win. The goals? To add to the general glossary of skier and snowboarder lingo and name the best new werd for 2008; and to come up with that one werd – the mighty catch-all, the great equalizer, the big peacemaker – that describes both skiing and snowboarding in one fell swoop. There will be one winner in each category.

The Ski/Snowboard Lingo contest runs from February 4 – March 4, 2008. The winners will be chosen by a panel of celebrity judges.

What: The Ski/Snowboard Lingo Contest

When: February 4 – March 4, 2008

Prize for the best new werd for “skiing and snowboarding:”
A Spring Ski Trip to Utah for two in April ‘08 sponsored by Ski Utah and participating Utah resorts

Prize for the best new general ski/snowboard werd:
Two day passes at The Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah and 10 T-shirts featuring their winning word

Celebrity Judges:
Annie Fast, Executive Editor, Transworld Snowboarding magazine
Derek Taylor, Editor of Powder magazine
Nathan Rafferty, Ski Utah President
Kendall Card, “powstash”
Kristin Ulmer, professional skier
Julian Carr, professional skier

“For years people have had to classify ‘skiing and snowboarding’ as two separate words,” said Nathan Rafferty, Ski Utah president, “We hope this contest might help us find one single word which describes both of these great downhill snow sliding sports.”

For more information or to enter the contest, visit http://addictionary.org/Browse/ContestWords/19.

The Addictionary
The Addictionary was created by a bunch of skiers and snowboarders in Park City, Utah, who aren’t as much into slang as they are genuine wordplay – not words, but werds. They built The Addictionary on a whim and continue their labor of love, providing lifestyle and niche versions to those who have their own lingo and want to share it: moms (http://moms.addictionary.org), pet owners (http://pet.addictionary.org), gamers (http://gamer.addictionary.org), politics (http://political.addictionary.org) and more. What’s your werd?

Ski Utah
Ski Utah is the marketing firm owned and operated by the 13 statewide ski resorts that make up the Utah Ski and Snowboard Association. The organization has been creating brand awareness of and demand for the Utah wintersports product since its inception in 1978.

Winter at Westminster
There is no other college semester-away program in the world like Winter at Westminster—a winter program with the perfect balance between the rigors of college and the passion for skiing and snowboarding. College students from all over the country enroll at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah as full-time visiting students. They earn 12–16 transferable credits while riding 70+ days at seven world-class resorts located within 30 minutes of campus. Winter at Westminster allows students to arrange the ultimate class schedule, balancing mid-week skiing and snowboarding with earning transferable credits that will keep them on track for graduation from their home colleges or universities. For more information, visit www.winteratwestminster.com.

Contact:
Marit Fischer | Base Camp Communications | 801-450-3244 | mfischer@basecampcomm.com
Jessica Kunzer | Ski Utah | 801-647-2510 | jessica@skiutah.com
Elizabeth Rogers | Westminster College | erogers@westminstercollege.edu

PARK CITY, Utah (Dec. 21, 2007) – The Addictionary (www.addictionary.org) is an online dictionary of slang, lingo and made-up werds. Since anyone can contribute, the result is an amusing vocabulary list of werds made by the people for the people — utter language democracy.

The Addictionary has just wrapped its Holidaze Lingo contest. Between Nov. 3 and Dec. 19, 2007, users added holiday-related werds to the site in hopes of winning the grand prize, an Apple iPhone.

The top 10 Addictionary.org Holidaze werds are:

10. Jinglebills (n) – The large credit card bills that come in right after Christmas shopping season

9. Santa cause (n) – A Christmas gift in which a donation to a charity is given in the recipient’s name

8. eggsnog (n) – A person who has consumed too much eggnog and wants to kiss everyone

7. wrapalanche (n) – The mountain of discarded wrapping paper on Christmas morning

6. mistleshmoe (n) – The drone who lurks in the doorway at holiday parties looking to get lucky

5. sprawliday (n) – The festive occasion when the male members of a family become one with the couch

4. Clicksmas (n) – The act of doing all holiday planning, shopping and/or socializing online

3. Excessmas (n) – 1) The act of striving to achieve that “special holiday feeling” through excessive holiday spending; 2) Too much holiday decoration; 3) Too much holiday consumption of food and/or adult beverages

2. tannenbomb (n) – The explosion of lights and ornaments hitting the floor after the cat attempts to climb the Christmas tree

And the Holidaze champion, Walter Quinn from Kenmore, N.Y., won the contest with his submission:

1. Auld Lanxiety (n) – The angst one feels every December 31 upon the realization that one didn’t keep any of last year’s resolutions.

“I’m excited,” said Quinn, who is an active contributor to The Addictionary, and whose entire family contributed werds for the contest. “I’ve always enjoyed plays on words and especially like clever twists on words that already exist. Some of the definitions on The Addictionary are absolutely hysterical!”

About The Addictionary

The Addictionary is the brainchild of the snowflakes and outdoorks at SpectrumDNA, based in Park City, Utah, who aren’t as much into slang as they are genuine wordplay – not words, but werds. They built The Addictionary on a whim and continue their labor of love, providing lifestyle and niche versions to those who have their own lingo and want to share it: moms, pet owners, gamers, bloggers and more. What’s your werd?

Contact: Marit Fischer, Base Camp Communications, 801-450-3244, mfischer@basecampcomm.com