My searching had led to the decision that ‘smogation’ was an
as-yet unused term and so now had to assign meaning and push it into the public
eye… How could I just throw a new word into the world wide web? Urban
Dictionary seemed a good place to start.
According to Wikipedia ‘Urban Dictionary is a crowdsourced online
dictionary of slang words and phrases that was founded in 1999
as a parody of Dictionary.com and Vocabulary.com’ and anyone can make
a submission.
On the 18th of December I submitted the following:
Word: smogation
Definition: NOUN Countable (smog + vacation): when the place of work or study is closed due to poor air quality and workers or students are required to take an unexpected holiday.
Example: Jimmy's school is closed for 3 days due to the air pollution red alert so he's on smogation.
Definition: NOUN Countable (smog + vacation): when the place of work or study is closed due to poor air quality and workers or students are required to take an unexpected holiday.
Example: Jimmy's school is closed for 3 days due to the air pollution red alert so he's on smogation.
And the next day I received a rejection
email:
Thanks for your definition of
smogation!
A few volunteer editors read your definition and decided to not publish it. Don't take it personally!
Try rewriting your definition so that it's easier for others to understand, then try again.
Thanks,
Urban Dictionary
A few volunteer editors read your definition and decided to not publish it. Don't take it personally!
Try rewriting your definition so that it's easier for others to understand, then try again.
Thanks,
Urban Dictionary
I had a quick look at some Urban
Dictionary entries and observed that a lot of them seem to refer to bodily
parts/functions, sex, drugs and insulting VIPS. So I dumbed my definition down
and stuck in a reference to Trump (how much more topical could I have got in
late 2017???). Here’s the secnd attempt:
Word: smogation
Definition: Day when the air quality in China is so bad that the government orders businesses and schools to shut giving people an extra holiday. The word smogation comes from smog and vacation.
Example: Trump reckons climate change is something made up by the Chinese workers when they're on smogation.
Definition: Day when the air quality in China is so bad that the government orders businesses and schools to shut giving people an extra holiday. The word smogation comes from smog and vacation.
Example: Trump reckons climate change is something made up by the Chinese workers when they're on smogation.
And I got the same rejection email… ‘Don't take it
personally!’ they say??!!