Neologisms 8

Nobody can write proper English any more and Americanisms are taking over and children should rote-learn grammar and – while people can think up locutions this vivid, there's no need to panic.

While the rooms pay homage to every benighted cliché of postmodern kitsch, the bathrooms are strictly Travelodge. The hotel's crashing suggestiveness is less of a nudge and a wink than a right hook and a black eye. (Guardian 2005 on a hotel where you could buy “adult toys” and a box full of nightlights and rose-petals for the bath.)

That’s my address book rinsed out. (Andrew Lamberty in Auction Hero, 2013)

It is prone to asinine generalities ("People have long memories in Belfast")… It may also be a sign of the outstanding boringness of the outward facts of Lewis's religious conversion… (Sam Leith, Guardian, May 11 2013)

Cream, off-white - it’s all a bit latte, really. (Sarah Beeny’s Selling Houses)

BBC journalist pretends he can eat for £1 a day… Devastating teardown ensues (@bengoldacre)

If Greg Dyke was doing an interview on flower arranging he’d turn it into an attack on me. (Chris Patten on Andrew Marr, 5 May 2013 New DG is “both a sigh of relief and a wind of change”.)

Tried an alternative coffee blend from the work vending machine. I think this one is called 'Coal dust, pond water and abject despair' (Dean Burnett/‏@garwboy)

It offers a heady melange of mannerisms, overscaled oriel windows, riotous gables, chimneys ago-go and a hundred and one materials. (Charles Holland on Norman Shaw)

Kochs form new dark money group to hide political activities (alternet.org)

So bland is this adaptation and so embarrassingly awful the dialogue that I feel all my blood has drained away. (imdb commenter on Three Act Tragedy)

Treat tips on deterring pigeons the same way as tips on getting rid of hiccups. Most are designed to entertain the public. (Marie-Lan Taÿ Pamart/‏@Jastrow75)

Mabel – that’s a museum name! (Heir Hunters)

sticking it to you in an under-handed way (about.com definition of passive aggression)

Mrs Thatcher will cling to the Velcro of our collective national memory more than any other politician. (Peter Hennessy)

I haven't read 'The Economy of Cities' but I'm led to believe it's brimming with gibberish - is that right? (Douglas Murphy/‏@entschwindet )

I'm feeling rather plaice-like (lightly battered) after defending a novel at Book Group. (Caroline Mansfield/‏@LadyofMisrule)

As John Grant so wisely asks on his new album, I wonder what Ernest Borgnine would do. Something to live by. *Adopts grizzled attitude* (John Grindrod/‏@Grindrod)

More here, and links to the rest.