LEXICON
Welcome to the FYA Lexicon, where you can find definitions of our vocabulary and frequent expressions. Looking for a word or phrase that isn’t here? Leave us a note in the comments!
The Cliff Huxtable Award for Awesome Dadhood: (n) named after one of the greatest fictional fathers in history, this award is given in the bonus factor section of a book report to honor amazing dads.
Champ Cans: (n) 1. cans of sparkling wine made by the Coppola Winery and named after his daughter, Sofia. 2. a frequent source of good times and deep trubs for the members of FYA.
Covertastic: (adj) description and tag for a book with a fantastic cover.
CYOA: Choose Your Own Adventure, our series (inspired by the original books) that incorporates YA clichés and reader’s votes.
DNRIP: Do Not Read In Public. This warning can be given for a book featuring one or more of the following: 1) the high potential for loud sobs and profuse tears. 2) snort-worthy humor that may lead to beverage-up-the-nose or mortifying guffaws. 3) a highly embarrassing cover.
Double True: (adj) to be extremely and obviously true. Taken from the SNL Lazy Sunday short. Often used in its abbreviated form: dubs true.
Fred Savage: (v) to immediately detest a book based on one factor. Taken from The Princess Bride, in which a young Fred Savage asks: “Is this a kissing book?”
FYABC: Forever Young Adult Book Club
Gateway Book: (n) a book that easily lures people into the world of YA.
Jorts: (n) jean shorts. Most famously modeled by Taylor Lautner in the film New Moon.
LadyNerd: (n) the most powerful creature that walks the Earth. A LadyNerd is everything that is to be admired in life. She has the exalted moral standing and charms of a Lady and the encyclopedic knowledge and swimfannery of a Nerd. She is the best of both worlds, the LadyNerd.
Milk Carton: (adj) describes a factor or quality often missing in YA literature. Inspired by the ads for missing children on milk cartons and discussed in this post.
Mysterious Loner Dude: (n) this archetype makes frequent appearances in YA and is labeled in the bonus factor section of a book report with a picture of Jordan Catalano.
Required Reading: our list of books that should be read by every living human being because they are THAT amazing.
Smize: (v) to smile with your eyes. Created by Her Royal Crayness Tyra Banks, whose official definition is available here.
Swimfan: (n) a crazy obsessed fan. Inspired by the wonderfully batshizz Erika Christensen in the film Swimfan.
Tasty Business: (n) Food that is especially delicious. May also be used as an adjective.
TEABS: (n) The End of an Awesome Book Syndrome. Characterized by the following symptoms:
- After finishing the final sentence, you stare at the last page for at least two minutes. An irregular heartbeat and shortness of breath are common side effects during this stage.
- You immediately flip back to all of yr favorite parts and furiously read them again in order to pretend like It’s Not Really Over.
- After you’ve exhausted every single cherished page, you stare off into space while imagining the characters in new scenarios, living life beyond the boundaries of the book. (This stage can evolve into an obsession known as FanFic, which most TEABS experts discourage.)
- You call every friend you know who’s read the book just so you can rehash every single story line and character and, basically, totally spazz out* (*scientific term meaning highly energetic and ridiculous spasms of conversation and exclamations).
- You read reviews of the book online just so you can shout “TOTALLY!” and “I KNOW, RIGHT?!!!” at yr computer screen.
- You do a Google search for future sequels and, if unsuccessful, scour the internet for RUMORS of a sequel, no matter how baseless they are because OMG IT CAN’T BE OVER! IT CAN’T BE!
YAngelism: (n) zealous preaching and dissemination of the gospel of young adult literature.
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I think the term ‘YAngelism’ just changed my life.
-Linds
Thank you for somehow knowing that I could not for the life of me figure out what DNRIP stood for!
The best I could come up with was “do not rest in peace”…which made absolutely no freaking sense.
I will blame this acronym stupidity on my lack of texting skills.
hah You’re not alone; I had the exact same thought until I finally had that ‘Aha!’ moment after seeing it in several reviews. Seems so obvious now!
i feel DNRIP should also refer to extreme LAUGHING in public, a la the incident in which bill bryson forced me to spill my starbucks whilst on the tube into the lap of a very swanky investment banker…
loving the rest though!
good call, loran. IT SHALL BE AMENDED!
It could also refer to hot sexy scenes where we’re sure anyone who glances our way can tell EXACTLY what we’re reading. Definitely DNRIP.
As a frequent sufferer, I love that TEABS is a medically recognized condition. Symptoms 4, 5 and 6 in particular have led numerous interventions by my loved ones over the years. Having a name for my disorder makes me feel less alone in this world. (Why did we have to end it that way, Katniss? Why???)
Champ Cans? OMG is that real? Where do you get such an amazing thing and how did I not know it existed? And I thought juice boxes of wine were exciting!
And I would add to TEABS frantically googling the upcoming movie version of said series to make sure they aren’t going to F it up by casting Miley Cyrus or something…and because when the movie comes out it’s like you can fall back in lovvvvve all over again…sigh.
Really, the pic of the Golden Girls with The Hunger Games just made my day.
Awesome!!!
THANK YOU for including Champ Cans! I google it every time it’s here and I’ve never known. And now I do. I must try this stuff.
Ditto! The first time I saw it I was like “Wait, are they talking about actual cans of champagne? Nah, that’s too awesome to be real, if those existed they would already be in my life”. I sense my Saturday nights are about to get a little classier…..or sloppier
Amen Lysh, amen!
Swimfan might be a good addition. I mean, I can figure it out from the context, and I think it’s from a movie, right? But it might be one to add?
abby s, EXCELLENT POINT! i’ve used that word for so long that i forget it’s not, you know, used by lots of other people.
i totally suffered from TEABS when i finished “Wicked: The Life and Times…” for the first time!! <3 thanks for giving that sensation a name; it makes it feel better now
Oooooh. So THATS what “jorts” are…
I KNOW! I assumed, but it’s nice to know for sure.
a) I discovered Champ Cans over New Years. I have since disavowed red wine and have now purchased stock in the Coppola family name.
b) Watched Eclipse over the above mentioned holiday and found that the number of Jorts scenes were overwhelming.
smize? help!
ah, yes! will add ASAP!
On TEABS, I think we need to add the following symptom…
Looking to see what everyone else is reading ( in my case in airports and restaurants) and then bounding over to
a complete stranger to ask their thoughts on the book! Lol
( I’m guilty of this with Hunger Games). People give me the ” this poor girl needs help” look!
I just added the tag FYA recomended, to my Library thing account.
Dear Susie, we love you.
Fanfic and its various iterations. I had to google it in one of the reviews. Wonderful word, but this old fart needed help. (OK, does google get spell-checked?).
Ellen, I’m worried that if we published *our* definition of fanfic, we’d get lots of hate mail signed by people with handles like HarryLuvsHermione and EdwardLover92. So… yeah.
Might I suggest adding definitions of your categories? I get most of them but am not sure about these: Hotsy Totsy!, In the Girls’ Bathroom, My So-Called Life, Party Line.
Where have you been all my life! This is the funniest/best list I’ve seen in the YA world!!! Can’t wait to share with my friends/fanatics of YA.
Where have YOU been all of our lives, Amy, with your awesome compliments? Welcome to FYA!
i just saw a dude in denver who looked an awful lot like taylor lautner. unfortunately, he was not wearing jorts. this made sadness.
So what is the negative form of TEABS? I am experiencing book rage currently.
OOOOH witjoe, that is an EXCELLENT question that needs to be addressed immediately. We’ll update this soon!