Travel ‘neologism’ is the tendency to take two perfectly good words, truncate one or both of them, then squeeze them together into one word where two would work perfectly. Here’s a list of ten of these neologisms we’d just as soon never see again.
“-cations”
Momcation
A momcation is when the mamas leave the papas and the babies at home and go out into the world, unafraid and unfettered by their loved ones. The word peppers women’s magazines and online forums. It’s overused, and annoying.
Mancation
This, we assume is the response to the momcation, when men pack up to engage in testosterone-laden activities like log hurling and volcano racing. It sounds a little like you’re making fun of yourself before you even leave.
Staycation
Here we have a word based in the idea that you go nowhere, and yet somehow are still vacationing. We get it. You didn’t go anywhere except out to the back porch. But does it really need its own word?
Gaycation
You’re queer and you’re not here. Go on any kind of trip you like, whether it’s sailing the open ocean or delving into a new life philosophy. But gaycation?
-packing
Glampacking
Here’s the chance to make something that’s essentially not glamorous into something that’s… still not glamorous. Glamor and suitcases do not go together, no matter how well you roll your silk shirt.
Flashpacking
This sounds you and the laundrette got into a fight and she kept your pants. If you go for the wheelie-suitcase and hotels over backpacks and hostels, you can be a traveler, but please do not give this mongrel word more leverage than it’s already gained.
Other ugly hybrids
Weddingmoon
If you combine your actual “I do”s with a trip, please call it a combination wedding/honeymoon. Once together, these words have no magnetic pull, no romantic suggestion. It sounds like a condition from which you suffer, like a very special sort of hangover.
Transumer
A transumer travels to purchase, and lives to do both. Clunkier than a pair of wooden clogs bought from the source, and uglier than clothes tried on in the back of a van in Milan, this word sounds like if you’re not careful, you might change forms right before our eyes. Please delete.
Touron
This ‘not-me’ word tells you that the tourist you see is (psst!) actually a moron. It’s a way to point your finger at “the other guy” while you sound ‘cool’ for using the word. It’s rude, and reminds us of learning the declensions in Ancient Greek, so it gets extra demerits.
Jetiquette
Jetiquette refers to Emily Post’s unwritten rules for being an airline passenger. Jetiquette is also the evil stepsister of netiquette and all the other –iquettes. We wish they would all get on a boat together and go on a new wordcation with little or no navigational equipment.
And a bonus: If you travel for work and tack on an extra day to jog past landmarks or tick off modern architectural marvels, you’re not just ’sightjogging,’ nor a mere ‘architourist,’ you’re also engaging in what some people like to call ‘weisure.’ It’s a mix of work and leisure. But not on our watch.
Community Connection
Please check out more words and phrases we never want to hear again.
Want to learn the craft of travel writing?
Sign up for Matador’s new Travel Writing School and get the skills you need.
About the Author
Related Posts
18 Comments... join the discussion!
-
-
I actually always liked “touron” – I only know it through Kelsey Timmerman, who uses it not to insult others but to describe himself (and everyone else, too, really, but not in a mean way) – as in, when you get down to it, we’re all tourons.
He talks tourons in the second question of this interview.
↵ -
i’m down with tourons too.
↵ -
Yeah, the potential for atrocities with these word mashes is high (“Bennifer,” anyone?), and most of the above are pretty annoying, but at heart I’m a fan of the wordplay. What’s language there for if not to f**k around with?
↵ -
i love “tourons” too … i tend to like all the insulting ones … we should keep those and ditch the rest
↵ -
transumer? weddingmoon? euch! they really wanna make me barf. i agree with hal, wordplay is healthy in general but eileen is right: these are some butt ugly pairings with some seriously spurious connotations.
↵ -
One you could add to the list is Cityiot. It’s for the weekend tourist that has to pack the maximum amount of quality time and fun with their bourgeoisie family units.
↵ -
back in georgia they were called ‘floridiots’
↵ -
I’d heard all the “cation” ones- and found them thoroughly annoying- but these others are so ridiculous!
Very funny piece!
↵ -
Well-written and funny article – thanks!
↵ -
Glad you all enjoyed, though I don’t really understand the fierce defense of touron. I guess we all just like a well-placed jab, so long as it’s a hit to the other guy. Here’s to language creativity meets the word police!
↵ -
Nah, nothing to do with enjoying a well-placed jab at others, at least for myself. Again, only knowing the word from Kelsey’s context (he’s the only person I’ve ever seen use it) it was a self-deprecating thing, not a knock on others. I like dispensing with the traveler vs. tourist nonsense and embracing the idea that when you get down to it, we’re all floundering idiots in foreign cultures, and that’s okay.
↵ -
Great post! Many people like to use neologism like “showmance (realty show / romance) and Bradgelina (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie). It would be interesting to know who came up with neologism. It’s one of those things that has taken off and reached everyone, including travel writers.
↵ -
Staycation annoys me – especially since all summer the local tourism board in Alberta (where I live) was promoting staycations. I think a local radio dj put it best – why call it a staycation? Why not just say you’re too lazy or cheap to go anywhere?
↵ -
I hate mancation and staycation. They should go the way of ‘my bad/my b’. I think someone who calls themselves a ‘transumer’ thinks they sound like a transformer instead of a new STI/STD to be aware of. However I do have to confess to liking voluntourism.
↵ -
glamping.
↵ -
I’ve only ever heard of one of these: flashpacking. WTF? Am I that out of it?
↵ -
The truth is, I dislike the sound of Voluntourism, but I love what it stands for, so I couldn’t bring myself to include it. Glamping sounds like it should involve a catwalk. Anyone else?
↵
