Staycation
Tuesday, May 27th by carlaDid you go somewhere over the long weekend, or did you save money and stay home? A recent CNN poll suggests that gas prices affected the travel plans of as many as 44% of Americans over the Memorial Day weekend. (CNN is careful to say that the poll is not scientific.)
More people may opt for “staycations” this year, an experience the Urban Dictionary defines as a vacation “spent at one’s home enjoying all that home and one’s home environs have to offer.” This neologism already has 44,500 hits on Google (though quite a few appear to be copies of the same AP stories), with tips on how to plan a successful one and at least one blog claiming the name. One site claims the word dates back to at least 2006, but it appears to have catapulted to possible Word of the Year status with this spring’s ongoing gas price hikes and the approaching summer.
Other summer neologisms include momcation and, my favorite, voluntourist.
Have you heard any other new words that bespeak our times — other nominees for Word of the Year?
May 29th, 2008 at 8:30 am
My daughter, grandkids, and I went to Washington, TX, which is where Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park is. The Texas declaration of independence from Mexico was drafted and signed there, and they have restored the building in which this all happened in 1836. I blogged about it at http://writeacher.blogspot.com. It was only about an 80-minute drive each way, so — not bad. We took cold drinks and sandwiches and saved money that way to offset the cost of the gas!
I’ll be taking other day-trips around here with my grandkids while their parents work. A few of them will be overnight trips — to Rusk, TX, and to College Station and Austin, TX. My car gets better gas mileage than my daughter’s minivan does, though!
Then at the end of July, the three kids and I will fly from Houston to Ontario, CA, to visit with my parents and brother for a few days. my mom and I had talked last winter about meeting in Albuquerque, but with gas, hotel, and restaurant prices what they are, taking the kids on a plane trip is lots less expensive!
The rest will be “staycation” with trips to the local swimming pool!