Words That Shaped the Week: "Fiscal Cliff," "Russia," and "Jennifer Lawrence"

Words That Shaped the Week: "Fiscal Cliff," "Russia," and "Jennifer Lawrence"
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By Juli Weiner, Vanity Fair

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For your edification, a look back at the phrases, nouns, and neologisms that have, for better or for worse, shaped the week's national discourse.

Fiscal cliff [fisk-uhl clif], noun: A somewhat apocryphal potential rise in income tax and loss of unemployment benefits, among other things, that would have ruined the country for awhile if John Boehner had not been such an impotent party leader.

Jennifer Lawrence [gen-if-er law-rence], noun: Vanity Fair's February cover subject; the Oscar-nominated, occasionally heavily armed Hunger Games actress whose no-nonsense attitude and no-nonsense silhouette have endeared her to women and men alike.

Steve Stockman [steev stock-min], noun: A career politician and two-time freshman congressman whose animosity toward John Boehner is as brazen as it is myopic; VF.com's Pet Issue™ 2013.

Russia [rush-uh], noun: The welcoming home-away-from-home/tax haven to bloated former French film stars of all idiosyncratic political persuasions.

Comrade Bill Richardson [kom-rad bil rich-urd-sin], noun: A very proud honorary citizen of the well-nourished, warm, and prosperous empire of North Korea!

Prefatory clause [pref-uh-tor-ee klaws], noun: An obscure grammatical function whose presence, according to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, validates the current interpretation of the Second Amendment, kind of sort of.

Kepler Space Telescope [kep-lehr spayc tel-uh-skowp], noun: Curiosity rover's lonely cousin who uses his academic and intellectual success as something of an emotional buffer for his own debilitating social anxiety.

Marry [mar-ee], verb: To lawfully wed, as in the (maybe! alleged!) case of astoundingly famous rich people Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

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