“AMERICAN: With the prefix ‘all,’ a blonde.”

Teju Cole’s homage to Flaubert’s “Dictionary of Received Ideas” started germinating on Twitter and is up at the New Yorker now. A few excerpts:

AMERICAN. With the prefix “all,” a blonde.

EMIGRÉ. Jewish immigrant.

MAGISTERIAL. Large book, written by a man.

MIGRANT. Mexican immigrant.

YEATS. Author of two quotations.

This is also great:

CARAMEL. Term used to describe black women’s skin. No other meaning known.

CHOCOLATE. Term used to describe black women’s skin. No other meaning known.

MOCHA. Term used to describe black women’s skin. No other meaning known.

On a related note, the Atlantic sub-blogs “twerk” with its great compilation of nerdy ’90s buzzwords like “phreaking” and “palmtop.”