Obamamania – neological boom
There
is no question that with Barack Obama the United States has a rock star
as president who—behooving rock stars—is adored and admired the world
over. His being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize nealy
a year after being elected president and
barely ten months into his holding the office, testified
to his global popularity rather than
his actual accomplishments, which
may well turn out to be unique and formidable.
Global interest to Barack Obama, which the press
called "Obamamania" (obamamania), has caused a "neological
boom". There are several new words related to Barack Obama in English. The
emergence of such a large number of neologisms has been made possible with the
help of the development of modern technology and the Internet. Previously,
access to media was limited, and neologisms were created mainly by politicians
or journalists. Today the author of a new word can be every person who wishes
to express his or her attitude to what is happening in the world.
The appearance of neologisms connected with
American presidents, has become common in English. The period
of President Reagan is remembered for the words such as “Reaganomics” and “the
Evil empire”. Thanks to Bill Clinton in English appeared lexemes such as
“Clintonomics”, “Monicagate” and the expression “to pull a Clinton”. President
George Bush is remembered for his numerous linguistic mistakes “Bushisms”. This
style of speech got the name Bushspeak.
Many
neologisms were formed on behalf of Barack Obama: Obamatopia (political
Paradise that will be after Obama wins), Obamascope (the recent focus on Obama
from the mass media), Obamenthusiasts (supporters of Obama), Barackstar (Obama
is a rock star), Nirbama (Nirvana that will come after Obama wins), Obamarama
(celebrating the inauguration of Obama), Bamelot (Obama’s nickname created by
analogy with John Kennedy’s nickname Camelot), Obomomedy (bad jokes about
Obama), Obamaphoria (the post-election ecstasy that swept Obama supporters),
Obamalujah (exalted calls of Obama supporters), Obamanator (Obama’s nickname
created by analogy with the hero’s name Terminator), Obamaloha (farewell in
“Obama’s style”, hint to Haiti, Obama’s birthplace), Obamerica (America, led by
President Obama) etc
