Dave, in the sticky “glossary” thread you credit Dr Techie with coining the acronym “CANOE” but there’s no mention that aldiboronti first coined the phrase “diegogarcity” on the old board, so in the interests of fairness, would you amend that and give aldi his moment of glory? Diegogarcity now has 4,000+ google links, btw, “CANOE” (edit: with explanation) 3,400+!

Done. I’m happy to give credit where it’s due.

Thanks.

And I should have said “word” diegogarcity.

It’s remarkable how “diegogarcity” has spread beyond our forum, but I suppose it demonstrates how widespread the phenomenon is, and how much a word was needed for it.

Yes, I’ve done my part by mentioning it when the subject has come up on AskMetaFilter (more than once).  It’s a great word and much needed.

What was the connection to the island Diego Garcia, someone?  Preferably aldi, but anyone will do!  And how long till the word is in the OED, I wonder?

It arose out of a conversation about serendipity, as serendip is an old name for Sri Lanka. It was determined that another island in the Indian Ocean was needed and Aldi came up with “diegogarcity.”

Thanks. That rings a bell now.

Thank you, Eliza. It’s always nice to see the term being used, throwaway joke though it was. I could have wished for an island that might have sounded more trippingly on the tongue but my Indian Ocean geography was as limited then as it is now.

Well, Mauritius could have given “mauricity,” but I think diegogarcity is funnier and therefore more memorable.

I’ve used it in conversation recently.  It appears to have strong legs and even an entry on Urban Dictionary.  I like it.

Where you can even order a diegogarcity mouse mat or mug!

I someone comes up with a graphic design, I’ll set up a Cafe Press store for t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, etc.

Sounds like a good idea.  I’ll start.

Font could be changed, tweaks could be made, but the basic idea is:

diegogarcity

--in flames/on fire/maybe with wings, even --for the front

.

and

.

on fire at

wordorigins.org

--for the reverse…

kinda like:

.

Why “on fire”?  It has nothing to do with diegogarcity and makes no sense to me.

The idea was, “on fire” == “has legs” == “hot”

Could just as easily be changed. 

Other candidates might be:

“check it out”

“look it up”

Or left out entirely.

Another possibility is:

diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity
_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity
y_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity
ty_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity
ity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity_diegogarcity
city_diegogarcity_diegogarcity _diegogarcity_diegogarcity

(repeated, or tiled, with the underscores replaced by spaces; hard to implement on a t-shirt, though)

The possibilities are nearly endless!

Maybe a contest should be held? 

The prize?

How about a free one-year subscription to wordorigins.org?

Just kidding…