It is an education reform movement in which traditional methods of teaching are set aside for a self-study approach, involving online technology – through virtual classrooms, downloadable tools and free learning material – as the favoured mode for education People taking to edupunk believe in a do-it-yourself approach and many are driven to this sort of low-cost, even free education, …

This theory says the universe will one day stop expanding. Then, as gravity pulls on matter, the universe will begin to contract, falling inward until it has collapsed into a super hot, super-dense singularity. The universe is like a giant souffle. It starts out small, expands as it heats up, and eventually, as the souffle cools, begins to collapse. Big …

Baggravation is a combination of the words “bag” and “aggravation”, and is a term used to describe the annoyance one feels at the airport when one’s bags have not arrived at the baggage carousel but everyone else’s has. It is that typical feeling, when it seems like your bags are always the last to arrive.

The word ‘Bafana’ is a Zulu word, plural for ‘umfaan’, meaning boy. There is also a movie about Mandela in jail called “Goodbye Bafana”. Bafana Bafana is the national football team of South Africa and is controlled by the South African Football Association, which will be hosting the 19th FIFA World Cup in June 2010. Bafana Bafana, meaning Boys Boys, …

An abnormal and persistent fear of spiders. Sufferers of arachnophobia experience undue anxiety even though they realize that the risk of encountering a spider and being harmed by it is small or non-existent. This phobia was exploited in a 1990 movie “Arachnophobia”. The word is derived from the Greek ‘arachne’ (spider) and ‘phobos’ (fear) after the mythical Arachne, a maiden …

The okapi is a mammal belonging to the giraffe family. Also known as ‘forest giraffe’, it is native to the Ituri rainforest in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa. The okapi lives a secluded life and was not discovered until 1900 by explorer Sir Harry Johnson. It is shorter than the giraffe and has stripes on the legs, reminiscent of …

Apparently biologists are still trying to figure out the cause of the massive bird deaths on New Year’s eve, along with the unusual deaths of other wildlife species, but are ruling out any biblical or environmental issues (so then what is the real cause people). The term being applied to this strange event now is an “Aflockalypse”. Other weird deaths …

A tick tock is used with reference to a news event about which events are recounted in chronological order. The term is used as a metaphor, indicating the ticking of a clock towards the unfolding of an event. The events are explained with boldface dates.

Red herring is an idiomatic expression referring to the rhetorical or literary tactic of diverting attention away from an item of significance. For example, in mystery fiction, where the identity of a criminal is being sought, an innocent party may be purposefully cast in a guilty light by the author through the employment of false emphasis, deceptive clues, ‘loaded’ words …

This term came to be used during the peak of the recession period, during Christmas season, when the world was shrouded with the economic downturn. It refers to women who went on a ‘spending binge’ despite the fact that they couldn’t afford it and more so when their ‘purse’ was already dented. The splurging during recession earned them the name …