Solstice greetings to all! Here’s a sampling of my recently published writing:
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Names of the year for 2024 (Moo Deng, Shohei Ohtani, Piper, and more)
Words of the year for 2024 (BlueAnon, snoafer, X-odus, and more)
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A few additional words of interest:
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When the artisan is artificial (Medium gift link)
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See you in 2025!
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Hello again! Here’s some recent writing of mine that you may have missed:
Just Add “Just”: The Four-Letter Word That’s All Over Supermarket Shelves and Advertising Copy (Medium gift link)
Skippin’ Like a Dipshit: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz brings a “folksy” profanity into the spotlight (Strong Language blog)
Mavis Beacon: How the Betty Crocker of software got her name (Substack)
Some notable words of the week:
Reviews of the new brand names TRONQUE and PLONTS.
And a review of Gobsmacked!: The British Invasion of American English.
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It’s been a minute, as they say. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve published on other platforms:
Does Anyone Still Write Letters? (Other Than Me, That Is.) (Medium gift link)
What I Like About American English (An Open Letter to Our Friends Across the Pond) (Medium gift link)
And speaking of American vs. British English, here’s Bamboozled by Bits and Bobs (Substack)
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What you need to know about some trendy words:
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I still critique brand names in my “Naming Briefs” series. Here’s the latest, on Macho Flora, Zeteo, and Stratechery.
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Finally, I continue to contribute to the Among the New Words section of American Speech, the quarterly journal of the American Dialect Society. My latest:
Assholocene (PDF)
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Hello! Whether you’ve landed here by chance or through habit, I welcome you — and suggest that you follow me to where the action is now: on my Substack newsletter. The name is the same, and the content is similar: names, brands, writing, and the language of commerce. But there’s a new look and nifty new features, like Notes and Chat.
Some of what you may have missed:
My tribute to Ilon Specht (1943–2024), the advertising copywriter and creative director who came up with L’Oreal’s long-running slogan, “Because I’m Worth It.”
Why is midi the word — and brand name — of the moment?
Sixt, Solovair, Straedgy, Sway: What do these brand names communicate?
. . . and much more! See you there.
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Hello, and welcome to Old Fritinancy — Classic Fritinancy? — the blog I launched in 2006. In August 2023 I made the transition to the Substack platform, where I’m publishing new writing on names, brands, words, and the language of commerce.
Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find on New! Improved! Fritinancy:
Word of the week for April 15: Wankpanzer
Critiques of interesting brand names like Kagi, Aptos, and Sora.
And much, much more! Subscribe to Fritinancy on Substack and read my twice-weekly newsletters, plus Notes (similar to Twitter or Bluesky posts) and recommendations of other terrific Substack newsletters like Caitlin Barrett’s Naming for Everyone, Jack Shepherd’s On Words and Up Words, and Benjamin Dreyer’s A Word About . . .
See you there!
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