Millennial

Use this forum to discuss past Good Words.
User avatar
Dr. Goodword
Site Admin
Posts: 7417
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:28 am
Location: Lewisburg, PA
Contact:

Millennial

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue May 05, 2015 10:19 pm

• millennial •

Pronunciation: mê-len-i-yêl • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective, Noun

Meaning: 1. (Adjective) Pertaining to a millennium. 2. (Noun) People reaching adulthood around the year 2000, Generation Y.

Notes: The new usage is the reference to people reaching adulthood around the year 2000. We have already seen millennium. Today's word is short for millennial generation, which is a longer and trendier way to say "youth" or "young people". It represents for businesses a highly profitable market and to politicians a notoriously liberal voting sector.

In Play: The millennial market is the youth market for advertisers: "Although a millennial, Fred's favorite movies are the old ones, and his favorite TV channel is Turner Classics." Since they are just starting their adult lives, they spend more money than the 'twilight generation': "Restaurants catering to millennials offer more locally grown 'locatarian' foods, like free-range meat and eggs, and organic vegetables."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a New Latin (Latin from about 1500) word that begins with Latin mille "thousand" and continues with a variant of Latin ann-us "year", and ends with the adjective ending -ial. No one knows where mille came from. In Greek "thousand" is khilioi, from which English borrowed kilo- as in kiloton and kilobyte. Million comes from Italian milione "big thousand", augmentative of mille "thousand". Annus (as in per annum) is yet another mystery. It apparently came from the past participle of a Proto-Indo-European word at-no- "go, pass", as in "time passed (past)". However, we find no trace of it outside Latin.
• The Good Dr. Goodword

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Millennial

Postby LukeJavan8 » Thu May 07, 2015 1:21 pm

Politically correct generations, yet we
profile people as genX, genY, millenials.
Hypocrisy?
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: Millennial

Postby Perry Lassiter » Fri May 08, 2015 8:52 pm

HypoXity?
pl

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Millennial

Postby LukeJavan8 » Sat May 09, 2015 11:30 am

:D
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

George Kovac

Re: Millennial

Postby George Kovac » Mon May 11, 2015 10:08 am

It fascinates me that “millennial” is a word embraced so readily by Generation Y and those who comment upon that cohort, because this cheerful neologism is so close to “millennialism,” a word fraught with dark (or at least weird) meaning. Historically, “millennialism” – an odd eschatological belief which has spawned strange quasi-political movements in western history, and which still resonates in some political circles today in the United States.

As to my thoughts about Generation X, see:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB100014241 ... 1476120910

George Kovac

Re: Millennial

Postby George Kovac » Mon May 11, 2015 10:15 am

I just realized that the link I provided in my last post requires a subscription to the Wall Street Journal for full access. So, I pasted below the full text of the letter to the editor in that link:


<<A Forward-Looking Name for the Boomers

Aug. 26, 2013 1:46 p.m. ET

The article "Million Dollar Mausoleums" (Wall Street Journal, Mansion, Aug. 16) quotes an industry consultant saying that the appeal of customized high-end burial arrangements is especially strong among baby boomers.

Perhaps it would be more accurate for the cemetery industry to refer to that aging cohort as Generation "Ex-."

George Kovac

Miami>>

LukeJavan8
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 4423
Joined: Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:16 pm
Location: Land of the Flat Water

Re: Millennial

Postby LukeJavan8 » Mon May 11, 2015 11:32 am

I don't subscribe, but received what you posted
above, was there more? At any case point made
million dollar mausoleums.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----


Return to “Good Word Discussion”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 39 guests