How to describe the nature of being trendy?

November 6, 2005 10:29 AM

Is there a single word to describe a fascination with things that are new for the sake of being new?

I'm thinking from a geek perspective, but I need a way to describe an interest in all things that are new. New products, new operating systems, memes, etc. I was thinking about 'neomania' (which I can't confirm is an actual word).

L'il help?

posted by Wild_Eep to Writing & Language (27 answers total)

Neophilia.
posted by meehawl at 10:38 AM on November 6, 2005

Best answer: neophilia.

Sounds dirty, dunnit?
posted by Gator at 10:39 AM on November 6, 2005

Best answer: How about neophile?
posted by justkevin at 10:39 AM on November 6, 2005

Neophilia, perhaps?

:)
posted by danb at 10:44 AM on November 6, 2005

Neophilia!
posted by agropyron at 10:55 AM on November 6, 2005

Have you considered "Neophilia"?
posted by Jairus at 11:06 AM on November 6, 2005

IANAL but it may be "Neophilia."
posted by Krrrlson at 11:12 AM on November 6, 2005

I think Jairus is right.
posted by horsewithnoname at 11:17 AM on November 6, 2005

So what would the opposite -- fascination with old things --be called? Gentrophilia?
posted by boo_radley at 11:22 AM on November 6, 2005

It looks like the answer is neophilia. Which would actually be a great name for a pop band.
posted by fenriq at 11:24 AM on November 6, 2005

Lenovo. :-)
posted by xammerboy at 11:29 AM on November 6, 2005

So what would the opposite -- fascination with old things --be called?

Uh, nostalgia?
posted by Jaltcoh at 12:22 PM on November 6, 2005

I'm not sure nostalgic cuts it. You cannot be nostalgic about something you never experienced, yet you could still appreciate it because it's old.

(UrbanDictionary: gentrophilia)
posted by Count Ziggurat at 12:46 PM on November 6, 2005

You cannot be nostalgic about something you never experienced

I'm not sure that's true.
posted by Jaltcoh at 1:52 PM on November 6, 2005

shudder
posted by boo_radley at 1:56 PM on November 6, 2005

"Novelty-seeking behavior" would be another term to use if appropriate.
posted by matildaben at 2:17 PM on November 6, 2005

Hey, meehawl won. Why didn't he get the BA?

ROBBED.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 2:37 PM on November 6, 2005

Response by poster: The second two linked to actual definitions. Mehawl linked to google results.
posted by Wild_Eep at 2:48 PM on November 6, 2005

Meehawl linked to google results

Throw someone a fish, they get smelly breath, but show someone how to go fishing, they are sorted for sushi for a lifetime...

Here's a puzzler. If there's a Cainophobia/Cenophobia/Centophobia/Cainotophobia (a pathological fear of new things, as ritualised in the DSM) using a more proper Greek root+tail than the Latin-Greek compound neophobia, why is there no matching cainotophilia/cainophilia instead of the neophilia hybrid?

I blame Robert Anton Wilson.

etc etc.
posted by meehawl at 3:23 PM on November 6, 2005

Just to add, someone who loves new things is known as a neophite, or neofite. Also used for someone who is new to a particular topic, such as me (moi, Ich, yo,etc.,) and MEFI, athough the current shorthand seems to be Newbie!
posted by Wilder at 3:30 PM on November 6, 2005

I disagree with Wilder, someone who loves new things is a neophile, not a neophite.
posted by arcticwoman at 3:47 PM on November 6, 2005

I'd suggest Neophilia, but it just doesn't interest me anymore.
posted by krisjohn at 4:08 PM on November 6, 2005

Wilder: That's "neophyte."

Boo Radley: Look up "nostalgia"!
posted by Jaltcoh at 5:49 PM on November 6, 2005

I like things that are novel. Does that make me a novelist?
posted by amro at 7:16 PM on November 6, 2005

I've just noticed in my neophilia OED popup ref above that apparently Desmond Morris used it in Men and Apes in 1966, so I bet that's where Wilson seized on it...
posted by meehawl at 9:46 AM on November 7, 2005

I wonder why people keep mistaking "nostalgia" as a positive feeling. It's supposed to be the pain you feel because things have changed. Webster (1913) defines it as "a severe and sometimes fatal form of melancholia, due to homesickness."

I'd think nostalgia it's the furtherst thing from neophilia... which the only definitions I can find are in Stallman's Jargon File / Hacker's Dictionary (citing Robert Anton Wilson).
posted by Mozai at 5:18 PM on November 7, 2005

Nostalgia can be painful, but it can be a sweet pain, or a deep heartbreak. The word also gets used to describe the act of indulging in some out-of-date fashion one remembers from back-when (more of a celebration of what was).
posted by Goofyy at 2:53 AM on November 8, 2005