The Oxford, Mississippi Dictionary: The Young and the Neckless

Just walk right on out there, buddy. The world revolves around you. Photo by Mike Stanton, www.fairtrade-photos.com

Needed nomenclature for a growing community.

Editor’s Note: This is an installment in a series of blogs on new Oxfordisms.

When I traverse Oxford’s highways, byways, sidewalks, and barstools, I observe things and acts that The Oxford English Dictionary doesn’t define. This dearth in accepted terminology leads to drawn-out explanations when referencing these phenomena. Our burgeoning community busts at its seams with growth, and so must our collective vocabulary.

So, I endeavor to begin a supplementary lexicon. This collection of terms will be known as The Oxford, Mississippi Dictionary*.

Here is another term to add to the vocab.

the young and the neckless, n.

Persons, typically Ole Miss students, who evidently were born without necks to enable them to look both ways before entering a crosswalk. Often also born without ability to stop walking momentarily before entering crosswalk, presumably due to the neckless inability to observe the world around them. On campus, a stream of up to 30 students may walk across in zombie-like fashion without ever pausing to politely allow the stopped car to pass. In danger of being greased by someone who is squared stupid.

— Tad Wilkes, tad.wilkes@hottytoddy.com

* This is not a book. Yet.