This Just In: Oxford Dictionary Goes Hypermiling!

We here at Open Road love words, love ‘em almost as we love efficient, value-laden cars. So we were more than a little amused to learn recently of this year’s batch of new words selected for inclusion in the New Oxford American Dictionary.

There are some real doozies (and in keeping with the theme of this post, we’ll offer cash and prizes – virtual cash, virtual prizes, of course - to those who can elucidate on the etymology of the word "doozie").

The words in contention for "Word of the Year" honors are interesting. They include "frugalista," "rewilding" and "staycation."

While we liked some of these, the one we liked the best was the word selected by the publishers of the New Oxford American Dictionary as WotY.

That word describes an activity near and dear to the hearts of many Prius drivers.

It’s "hypermiling."

Hypermiling, as many of you probably know, is a word attributed to a gentleman named Wayne Gerdes, who operates the popular Web site, CleanMPG.

It describes a driving style designed to allow a driver to exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s mpg ratings for his or her vehicle.

Basically, it involves driving within speed limits and with a very light throttle foot, anticipating traffic and just generally driving as though your car’s throttle pedal is connected directly to your bank account.

Or, according to the folks at Oxford, it means, the "attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques." To read our post about hypermiling, click here.

So now you know that "hypermiling has achieved lasting, dictionary-based fame. But what about the other words, the also-rans?

A frugalista is someone who lives frugally, but with a certain elan, thanks to buying stylish second-hand stuff. You might expect a hypermiler to be a frugalista, mightn’t you? And to be interested in rewilding, which involves the return of a developed area to its original wild state? And maybe even to be willing to take a staycation, which is a vacation holiday taken without leaving the precincts of one’s home?

Interesting, isn’t it, that while we take for granted that motor vehicles will change and evolve to meet society’s needs, it’s kind of a surprise to recognize that language does exactly the same thing – sometimes, even reflecting the changes in motor vehicles and their uses.

- Jon F. Thompson, Editor, Open Road

Comments

[JIm Dickinson]

That is an easy question - a doozie refers to something that is the very best of its type and the word derives from the Duesenburg automoble, the ultimate American automobile, if not the ultimate automobile from anywhere in the world.

[Tom Roberts]

I believe if you trace the origins of "doozie" back to the thirties, you find that it was spelled "deusy," referring to those fabulously grand motor vehicles, Duesenbergs. In fact, wikipedia agrees. I just checked!