NTMP 127: Moist Bean

Smacks for your quanklebox

New-To-Me Phrases, November 17, 2024

Quanked * Swiss Army lit * Content slop * Snackle box * SASCWATCH * Dense bean * Moist Louis

Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash

The Phrases, With Context

It’s been a wild couple of weeks since I last sent out a newsletter. When I last wrote, I was feeling hopeful Harris would win, and I’m not the least bit embarrassed about that. I took time to process the shock of this loss and what it means for the future of this country and its citizens, and I’m ready to learn and understand and connect and evolve and fight to preserve our common humanity and rights where needed.

Luke from Welcome to Hell World said it best:

A better world than this is possible.
There is enough to go around and no one needs to suffer or go without as they so routinely do.

This is further what I believe:

Every single person by default deserves a home and healthcare and an education and a job that pays them enough to live and enjoy leisure and equal rights and dignity and safety regardless of gender or race or birthplace and an end to the perpetual war machine and I'm so fucking sick of being told this is radical by my supposed coalition partners.

ANYWAY, this radical leftist has some phrases for you. In this edition, we have trendy plasticware, a hairy backronym, word trash, and more.

1. Quanked

I saw a meme on Instagram describing quanked as an obsolete word that means “overpowered by fatigue.” I don’t have access to the Oxford English Dictionary but it cites this as being first in use in 1840, likely in a novel.

I’m not finding a lot out there, but British etymologist Susie Dent shared it on X along with two other words—forswunk and ramfeezled—as old words sharing this meaning.

2. Swiss Army lit

I first wrote about romantasy a little over a year ago. It’s a mashup of the romance and fantasy genres that’s been hot for a while, with hugely popular series like A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas and Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. I tried reading both series and bailed on because I found the quality of writing lacking—no judgment if they are your jam! Like what you like! Be free!

This article from CNN Style refers to romantasy as Swiss Army lit because it pulls from multiple genres. I’d include Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series in the Swiss Army lit category, as it’s never been easy to slot into one category. Is it historical fiction? yes. Science fiction? Yep. Romance? Absolutely. Outlander came out in the ‘80s, so these genre mashups are nothing new but they were definitely rare. It’s kind of great that people are writing about it and reading it. I get why genres need to exist but I also appreciate blending elements from them—it allows storytellers to experiment and that can only benefit both writers and readers.

3. Content slop

In a recent newsletter, Ryan Broderick at Garbage Day attempted to define the content slop that seems so prevalent in this age of AI and algorithms:

Content slop has three important characteristics. The first being that, to the user, the viewer, the customer, it feels worthless. This might be because it was clearly generated in bulk by a machine or because of how much of that particular content is being created. The next important feature of slop is that feels forced upon us, whether by a corporation or an algorithm. It’s in the name. We’re the little piggies and it’s the gruel in the trough. But the last feature is the most crucial. It not only feels worthless and ubiquitous, it also feels optimized to be so.

He goes on to give his own vibes-based opinions on what he thinks is actually useful or good content that went viral or otherwise became popular vs. slop: Charli XCX’s “Brat Summer” = not slop; Taylor Swift’s many alternate versions of her songs = slop (not sure I agree there). Dune remakes = not slop; Deadpool vs. Wolverine = slop.

Content slop exists across multiple genres—TV, YouTube, Google, social media, music. One might argue that reality TV is slop. We see slop everywhere online in ChatGPT-written, SEO-keyword-stuffed “articles” online. AI image slop of shrimp Jesus is probably being shared by your elders on Facebook at this very moment.

The solution to reducing the content slop in our lives is the solution to so many things that make our culture miserable: the power lies with us to demand better, to not give slop our eyeballs, our takes, our shares, our dollars. To support artists making cool shit. It feels insurmountable because it is. But! Individual choices still matter in our everyday lives; we can each improve our existence by adjusting what we pay attention to and pay for. This battle feels paradoxical, but I don’t think it is.

What do you think about this? It’s obviously a complex topic that’s tough to boil down in a section of a newsletter.

4. Snackle box

Here’s another trend I missed out on because I tend to avoid product influencers in general. I’m not really interested in amassing more stuff (unless that stuff is stickers, in which case: gimme). Glossy accounts where real life is curated to represent some sort of polished ideal does not appeal to me at all. Show me your messy living rooms and unfiltered faces! Tell me your real stories of your fuckups and triumphs and tiny, tender moments of joy! Those are the corners of the internet I’ll be hanging out in.

Anyway, Eater describes the snackle box as a “vessel whose time has come.” (You can see pics of them at that link.) A portmanteau for “snack” and “tackle box,” the item itself looks like a beefier bento box, a container divided into distinct sections with a lid. Because I did more than my share of “indoor picnics” and road trips when my kids were little, I can definitely see the appeal of these for parents of young kids. I thought about getting one, but decided not to hop on another kitchen trend pushing even more plastic products into our homes. (I’m fun at parties, too.)

5. SASCWATCH

Here’s a fun backronym—a term I wrote about in the second-ever edition of NTMP¹. As a refresher, a backronym is an acronym that forms a word already in existence.

SASCWATCH is a scientific research project designed to better detect hurricanes by understanding how they behave using drones and other technology that can safely get inside these storms. It stands for Study on Air-Sea Coupling with WAves, Turbulence, and Clouds at High wind.

That’s quite a reach there, nerds. I love it.

6. Dense bean

Humans love a food trend, and this one’s no different. Earlier this year, Violet Witchel made dense bean salad a TikTok trend. What is a dense bean salad, you ask? It’s a salad that replaces greens with beans, which any salad lover can tell you are and always have been awesome in a salad. Unless, of course, you hate beans or can’t eat them.

According to the hilariously titled Time magazine article, “Why You Should Eat a Dense Bean Salad Today,” Witchel now “answers to ‘dense bean girl,’” and her fiance was called “Mr. Dense Bean Salad” by a fan who saw them out in public. We all know there are far worse things you could be known for, so enjoy that fibrous fame while you’ve got it, girl.

7. Moist Louis

I know a lot of people hate the word moist but I identify as moist-neutral.

MoistLouis.com is the URL for the Museum of Illusions in St. Louis. I’m going to lean on the side that says that this was entirely intentional.

Fun fact: MOIST was my husband’s Wordle word until it finally came up in the game.

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Bonus Bits

1. A sadly not-new-to-me phrase that might be new-to-you

Kakistocracy: Government by the worst people (via Merriam-Webster).

2. Post-election jokes

Because we need humor now more than ever.

Two jokes stand out to me, both from Lyz Lenz at

Men Yell at Me

. First, she opened her first post-election newsletter by writing, “Well, the good news is no one is going to storm the Capitol.” Maybe she didn’t mean this as a joke but I found it very, very funny.

In the next edition of Dingus of the Week, she wrote:

Two men, TWO, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, have been picked for a new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Is it really that efficient to have two men running a department of efficiency?

Then there’s this meme from Reductress:

. . . and this one from Twitter:

Are you on Bluesky yet? I’m so excited that it’s catching on. Let’s connect there and tell jokes while the empire falls.

That’s it for this edition! Hang in there, remember to keep making it weird and stay furiously curious.

1. Wild to think that in a couple of months I’ll have been writing NTMP for three years!