Yaka-wow

Funny. A new term has entered lexicon as the result of a transcription error. But the term is so bizarre, it has created a Internet craze and will probably live on as a "term" with its own application:



According to Vaughan Bell, neuroscientist Susan Greenfield was giving an interview of which a bit was transcribed as:

She is concerned that those who live only in the present, online, don’t allow their malleable brains to develop properly. “It’s not going to destroy the planet but is it going to be a planet worth living in if you have a load of breezy people who go around saying yaka-wow. Is that the society we want?”

But:

This is probably a transcription error as Greenfield often talks about digital technology being full of "yuk and wow", but the delightful phrase has triggered something of a fan club (nothing to do with me I might add) and there is now a hashtag, a Twitter stream, a poster and even a T-shirt.

That's the fun thing about humans. We are constantly inventing and re-inventing. It means that language is a living creature and in 500 years our descendants won't have a clue what we are saying without a dictionary and assistance from a linguist.