Word Watch

By Janice Castro

A Harper's dictionary of words that don't exist (but should) introduced the term algore, meaning "impenetrable blandness." Other terms included vacationoia, defined as the anxiety that overtakes the family far from home when no one can remember whether the stove was turned off. Grapevine offers the following much needed terms:

algorhythm: a restrained style of dancing peculiar to advanced yuppies

allegorey: a fanciful tale about growing up in Carthage, Tenn.

arsenior: a longtime Carson fan who frequently suffers from Lenopathy

forgettery: the opposite of memory, the tendency to draw blanks on information once known, made popular recently by Ronald Reagan

perotgative: the right of Texas billionaires to quit when the going gets tough

unkempt: the mental state of conservative Republicans frustrated over their ticket