Language

Comedian Greg Behrendt calls it "that dumb thing I said." He's referring to the phrase "He's just not that into you."

What do you call the loss of productivity caused by too much time spent on Facebook? "Social notworking." A steeply devalued retirement account? "201(k)." A painfully obsolete cellphone? "Brickberry." These linguistic dispatches from the land of cooler-than-you come courtesy of wit-mongers Cramer-Krasselt, a Chicago-headquartered full-service agency with a tidy billion dollars in annual billables.

Lucie Kundra is something of a feminist rebel -- not because she wouldn't take her husband's name when they got married last year, but because she did. She adopted his surname exactly as it was, and in doing so defied centuries of tradition and the wishes of her own mother. That's because she refused to add the customary feminine suffix "ova" at the end, as the Czech language normally dictates; she answers to Lucie Kundra, not Lucie Kundrova.

Learning your ABCs can be a tough proposition in India. Not the alphabet; even Indians who can't speak English fluently know their letters. But pity the poor soul who strays unprepared into the world of newspapers, magazines, documents, signs, billboards -- in short, anywhere there's text -- only to find that minding your Ps and Qs, literally, can be a headache. That's because this land sometimes seems to have as many initials, acronyms and abbreviations in usage as it does people.

A four-letter word has enlivened an otherwise wonkish mayoral race between incumbent Jerry Sanders and businessman Steve Francis, attracting much more attention than the two Republicans' disputes over infrastructure needs and municipal financing. Annoyed by Francis' multimillion-dollar barrage of television commercials questioning his honesty and integrity, the normally low-key Sanders refused to shake Francis' hand after an Earth Day debate and instead said to him, ". . . you."

The Supreme Court would not be recommended as the best place in this city to hear a raucous conversation that makes full use of the F-word, the S-word and assorted other vulgarities. It is a place of decorum. Officers will firmly reprimand a visitor who errs by leaning an elbow on the next chair. Tuesday morning may be an exception, however.

Lake Superior State University on Sunday released its annual "List of Words and Phrases Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness." The university, which has been compiling the list since 1976, chose 16 words or phrases from about 4,500 nominations.

The arbiter of Australian English, the Macquarie Dictionary, has declared "muffin top" the word of the year for 2006 -- even though it's two words -- choosing it over "affluenza." "Muffin top" refers to the fold of fat around the midriff that spills over the top of tight-fitting pants or skirts on overweight people. The usage has spread across the globe. The also-ran word describes dissatisfaction with consumerism.

"Have you seen your ballot?" Gloria Seiff of Beverly Hills asked friend and fellow resident Betty Harris over the phone. Harris had not. She opened the mail-in ballot and took one look. "I was shocked by it," she said. For the first time, Beverly Hills had translated its entire absentee and sample ballots into Persian. The ballots for the March 6 municipal election, in which two City Council seats are up for grabs, went out this month, and the response was swift.

If a "Snakes on a Plane" sequel is ever filmed at John Wayne Airport, actor Samuel L. Jackson had better watch his tongue -- unless a potty-mouthed dance student wins a free-speech lawsuit filed against Orange County this month. Last summer, Elizabeth Venable of Riverside was cited for disorderly conduct after she allegedly yelled numerous obscenities to a friend while exiting the airport's baggage claim area.