Tag: Pop Culture

Pop Culture

International Coffee Day: How Coffee Changed America

Chris Chang-Bacon

Coffee Day

 Happy International Coffee Day!

I’m drinking it right now, and you probably are too.

From being labeled ‘the bitter invention of Satan,’ to essentially kickstarting starting the European Enlightenment, to becoming the second most commonly traded commodity on the planet, coffee has come a long way.

In honor of the beverage that makes this blog (and most endeavors of my life) possible, here’s the story of how coffee changed America via National Geographic – a story that starts, as all good things do, in Boston.  Continue reading “International Coffee Day: How Coffee Changed America” →

Pop Culture, Vocabulary

And the Word of the Year is… “Vape”

Chris Chang-Bacon

e-cigarette That’s right. Vape.

If you (like me) had no idea what this word meant, odds are you’ve taken the “just say no” approach to smokeless-tobacco.

But thanks to the Oxford English Dictionary, we now have a codified word for this newfangled mode of nicotine consumption. According to the OED, vape can be used:

A) As a noun for the e-cigarette itself: “Hey man, can I borrow your vape?”

B) As a noun for the action of e-smoking: “Hey man, can I take a vape off your vape?”

C) And as a verb: “No, you can’t vape off my vape because I prefer vaping solo.”

(Note that as I write this, my word processor keeps putting giving vape the red squiggly underline, or autocorrecting it to tape. C’mon spellcheck – get with the times!)

I was going to post some of Oxford’s past “Word of the Year” winners, but I was actually more impressed by the American Dialect Society‘s list (though they haven’t released a 2014 word yet). It’s incredible how one well-chosen neologism really does capture the atmosphere of the year it represents. Check these out: Continue reading “And the Word of the Year is… “Vape”” →