How about McMansion?

Posted by Masakim on November 13, 2003

In Reply to: How about McMansion? posted by ESC on November 12, 2003

: : : : Dictionary Editors to Keep 'McJob'
: : : : November 11, 2003.

: : : : By TRUDY TYNAN, Associated Press Writer

: : : : SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - McDonald's may not be "lovin' it," but the editors of the Merriam-Webster dictionary say "McJob" is a word that's here to stay.

: : : : The 11th edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, published in June, defines a "McJob" as "a low-paying job that requires little skill and provides little opportunity for advancement."

: : : : The fast-food giant's chief executive, Jim Cantalupo, called the definition a "slap in the face" to the 12 million people who work in the restaurant industry, and demanded that Merriam-Webster dish up something more flattering. . .

: : : That's a colourful term. Anyone know the origin? I have also heard USA Today referred to as "McNews".

: :
: : Oh this is all too scary. I recommend a book called 'Jennifer Government', it's about this very kind of evolution. It's a bit of a spoof, but in many ways, maybe not such a joke.

: Here's something ironic. (I think.) I tried looking it up on Merriam-Webster online and couldn't find "McJob."

: I don't know when McMansion was first used. It's along the same lines as "starter castle."

McMansion
noun a large modern house that is considered ostentatious and lacking in architectural integrity: "let's hope it happens before David Geffen erects cyclone fences on either side of his Malibu McMansion to keep away the riff-raff."
From _The Oxford Essential Dictionary of New Words_ edited by Erin McKean
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In this dehumanizing, auto-dominated, market-research-driven age of faltering standards of service and aesthetics, our urban and suburban landscapes are becoming more homogenized and worse.
What character their history and ecology might offer is being strip-mined to make way for anonymous residential projects, monolithic office towers, climate-controlled retail complexes of questionable design and awkward transportation systems -- all in the abused name of progress.
We are talking here of the march of mini-malls and "McMansions."
(Sam Hall Kaplan, "Search for Environmental View of Design," _The Los Angeles Times_, July 17, 1990)

McMansion. A type of faux château. With gables, some of them real, cathedral ceilings, a two-story foyer and a big family room (pay no attention to the small living room), _McMansions_ create the illusion of a rural estate -- until the master and mistress look out their Palladian windows and find no rolling greensward but an undersized lot and a close view of the neighbors through _their_ Palladian windows. Draw the drapes, Jeeves, so we can dream.
(Gerald Parshall, "Buzzwords ," U.S.News Online: Outlook '97)

Oversized homes -- labeled "McMansions" by some -- have spread from spacious enclaves to close-in suburbs, where they often dwarf their neighbors...
("As McMansions Proliferate, Cracking Down on the Joneses,"The New York Times/Times Digest, March 19, 2001)