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Record 1 1991-10-10

English

Subject field(s)
  • Neology and Linguistic Borrowing
DEF

A reduction in output or expenditure (rate, amount or number) which is bitterly received by the public: similar to "cutback", but more pejorative.

CONT

What I (and I suspect 90% of my fellow-readers) find truly scandalous in the Peter Kormos flap is that, at this time of anemic business activities and emaciated corporate profits - not to mention hospital cutbacks and pension clawbacks - somebody is actually being paid $60,000 per annum out of the public purse to monitor sexism in beer ads.

OBS

This neologism is a compound. It is formed by putting together a word (claw) and a combining form (-back). Compounds are formed of various parts of speech, and often a compound differs in part of speech from its components (for example: claw (verb) + back (adverb) = clawback (noun]. A compound may appear to be quite self-explanatory, but often it holds a specialized meaning. Semantically, a clawback is a cutback taken several steps further. The words resemble each other, but the connotations are quite different: while a "cutback" might meet some public resistance, a "clawback" gives the impression of something virtually torn from the hands of the public and dragged away. "Claw" gives the idea of a vulture, and includes all of its negative implications. It should also be pointed out that "clawbacks" rhymes with "drawbacks", and while the latter is never actually seen, the reader likely makes a psychological connection between the two words, amplifying the effect of the former.

OBS

"Clawback" may be what is often termed a "nonce word" - a new word that is coined specifically for the occasion, a coinage which may soon disappear. Nonce words are formed with existing elements in the language, its standard words, combining forms, and affixes. Nonce words are often playful or fanciful coinages, many are puns, or are humorous.

French

Domaine(s)
  • Néologie et emprunts

Spanish

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