Neo used to only be followed by politan, but since a certain film broke him out of the ice cream matrix, his diverse following has grown to include politicians, philosophers, religious scholars, racists, and hi-tech toys, just to name a few. If you thought strawberry, chocolate and vanilla was a delicious study in complementary contrasts, get a load of the complex flavor of this sample of neophytes (which sometimes wind up in neofights):
* neologism
* neo-evangelicalism
* neoliberalism
* neoconservatism
* Neo Hasidism
* neo-Latin
* neolithic
* neonate
* neo-Nazi
* neophyte
* Neapolis (the original name of the originally)
* Greek city of Naples
* neoteny
* neopets
* neon
* neomail
Neo-evangelical is just the starting point for neodominance (?) in our subculture. There are neocalvinists (hyphenated? capitalized?) and I would like to proprose neodispensationalists (sounds better than progressive or leaky). I keep thinking neo must mean anything slapped upside the head. I guess we should define the term since it's still Greek to me. Actually it is Greek.
neo = a prefix derived from Greek that means new or recent, or in a modern form.
Excuse me? We here in America have traded in a single letter (w for o), exchanging our language for a foreign one. I think it's because since it's a prefix it can make something a single word, and my generation is lazy with language like that. Plus it sounds cooler...sometimes. Let's see what would happen if we were to use it even more liberally (pun not intended, unlike the rest of this post):
Do you like my neo-do? I'm going to a neostylist.
This is my neoblog. My other blog has become shabby chic.
Oreos? No thanks. I'd rather have Neos...er, um Neo's (?)
I'm a neo-Martha, but one day I'll have my own homemaking empire.
Neospeak can come in handy or it can get out of hand, which just goes to show that ice cream flavors are more influential than you might think. Before Neo broke up with Politan, Rocky ditched Road for his decade of stardom, and Vanilla has had countless brushes with fame, most of them unseemly. Which is why I stick with Moose Tracks. Moose does not have a ring to it and will never become a cultural icon. I prefer classic to newfangled, but I appreciate new ways of seeing as long as we keep Ecclesiastes 1:9 in mind and no one starts serving ice cream clones.
Neo-sourcery: Answers.com
