It's a long travel day (12+ hours) from Austin, TX back to DC.
Travel snapshot: At the Charlotte airport a mulberry-haired Japanese woman in a strawberry pink hoodie is holding a large chihuahua as if that baby canine is the Holy Grail.
I'm sitting by a power outlet, plugging back in - mentally digesting my first SXSW experience and realize there is no easy way to describe this letdown.
One of my favorite things about Southby was the unexpected wordplay that results when you meet other geeky tech folks. Crowdsourcing new verbology at #sxsw is one of the least expected but most interesting side benefits of hanging with such a professionally diverse crowd in Austin.
My favorite term (before this afternoon) is from the soc-anth school. In the hallway talking about parties, a new friend suggested the noun "southbabies." This tags the, ahem, interesting crowd interactions between males and females at parties during SXSW, as in "some southbabies are gonna be made after this one."
In a slightly more professional vein, I'm proposing a term to catalog the feeling of getting hit with the #sxsw whammy after the event - "southby'd."
You can use 'southbyd' as a noun (I feel southbyd) or a verb (I'm gonna Southby you if you don't show up at the Google party!)
south⋅by⋅d
[sowth-bi-d]
-verb, noun
1. | the quality or state of feeling listless and unenergetic following attendance at the annual SXSW Film, Interactive, and or Music festivals in Austin, TX. Grade I experienced after attending one subfestival, Grade II experienced after attending two subfestivals, Grade III experienced after attending all three subfestivals. Grades I and II often require 24-72 hours of bed rest. Grade III may require hospitalization, IV fluids. |
2. | Pathology. an abnormal mental state or disorder characterized by overpowering laziness, hunger, and lack of initiative following attendance at #sxsw. Common usage: "Man, I'm so southbyd, I need a large Texas Breakfast with biscuits and gravy stat, and then I'm taking a three day nap." |
Additional ethnographic info: From urban anthropological English+semantic web/event-contextual hybrid. Condition one experiences after attending #sxsw in Austin, Tx. Symptoms: lethargy, throbbing, blistering pain in lower extremities due to walking (often in inappropriate footwear for females), driving hunger for simple carbohydrates, particularly starches such as those provided by papas fritas. Strange cravings for McDonald's Egg McMuffin may be experienced, often between the hours of 11am-3pm EST.
Abbreviation: southbyd
1 comment:
Sincere Congratulations! You make us all proud; well done.
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