Breferemdum: A Comprehensive List of Media Buzzword Portmanteau for Future EU Referenda.

In light of the "Brexit"—Britain's referendum to leave the European Union—I've concocted a handy go-to reference for all your future portmanteau buzzword needs. Because any profit-turning media organisation has a penchant for portmanteau. Just like celebrity power couples, it doesn't make sense to the senseless hordes unless we take two existing words and smash them together in a cringe-inducing manner.

So the following contains many original "exitisms" for when you just can't find a word short enough for "[insert EU country here]'s proposal to leave the EU." These are organised into The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

The Good: The words that sound great, feel great, and can be just dropped into conversation at your pretentious cocktail parties like you've used them all your life.

- Brexit* - United Kingdom

- Grexit* - Greece

- Czexit* - Czech Republic

- Frexit* - France

- Spexit - Spain

- Nexit - The Netherlands

- Luxit - Luxembourg

- Swexit - Sweden

- Fixit - Finland

- Laxit - Latvia

- Lixit - Lithuania

The Bad: While not tounge-twisters in their own right, these mashups just don't have that great mouthfeel—to borrow wine terminology. The $10-15 bottle so to speak.

- Gexit (pronounced with a soft G) - Germany

- Poxit - Poland

- Dexit* (I feel as if this one has already been coined—Denmark is quite Eurosceptic) - Denmark

- Bexit - Belgium

- Exit (highly original of course) - Estonia

- Auxit - Austria

- Huxit - Hungary

- Roxit (pronounced with a long O) - Romania

- Buxit (pronounced with a short U) - Bulgaria

- Maxit - Malta

- Croxit - Croatia

- Slexit (or Slovaxit) - Slovakia

The Ugly: No, just no... Any journalist that dare to use these should be fired—immediately. Or just go work for Fox News.

- Irexit - Ireland

- Itexit - Italy

- Cyxit - Cyprus

- Porxit - Portugal

*Note these are not original coinages, and as far I am aware have already entered the cheese-filled world of journalistic buzzwordery.

———————————————————————————————————————— "... we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever in peace." —W. M. Hicks.

Exams: good luck?

I am currently undergoing study for, and conducting university examinations. No doubt many have undergone, or are undergoing similar undertakings. Inevitably you will have heard the phrase "good luck" when someone wishes you well for said exam. It's one of those bizarre irrational quirks of language that doesn't self-reflexively asses what it's actually suggesting. I'm not an expert on semantics, but surely an astute student in any field would not simply rely on luck during an exam. It would be a combination of effective strategy, planning, and sustained temporal commitment. Wishing someone "good luck" for an exam is akin to saying, "here, take this die into the exam, roll it, and if you get a two you can pass". You have a one in six probability of passing—about the same if you're just relying on luck. It's stupid. You're either ready for the exam or you're a total fuck up. If you're the former, we should be saying "You'll pass!" and if you're the later, the alliterative aphorism, "prior planning prevents piss poor performance".

Luck is for gamblers.

———————————————————————————————————————— "... we can explore space together, both inner and outer, forever in peace." —W. M. Hicks.