People really, really like to make up words: Brangelina, Infotainment, Imagineering. The newest non-word by a Denver area electronics retailer is “Intechxicated”. A problem in which the solution involves the paradox of simplifying your life by purchasing more stuff.

Several travel articles I’ve read recently have featured the made up word “Mancation”. My reading thus far tells me that a “mancation”, is nothing more than guys going on a trip or getaway together. Is forcing yourself to say “Hey bros let’s take a Mancation together”, somehow much less awkward and easier than saying “Hey guys, want do to Vegas this weekend?”. I guess if you’re going on a mancation, then it’s official, you’re going on a MANcation! (dude).

Urban Dictionary describes a mancation: “When normal guys engage in “guy” activities”. That specific phrase can only be 1,000 different things. Surprisingly Wikipedia has no entry as of yet.

Who created this word? Where are it’s origins? Oprah’s magazine? A marketing firm? A travel company? In the last two months MSNBC as well of scores of web travel aggregators, (plus scarcely read blogs like mine), have made reference to mancations. Yet whoever gave birth to this nonsensical word obviously didn’t give any thought to it’s rampant infestation in the vernacular world sound bytes, or else mancations.com would actually be a site of substance and be selling something.

Even AOL, normally only five to eight years behind new trends, managed to jump on the bandwagon with a puff article about “guys doing guy things”. (While choosing the most homoerotic stock footage available). Who knows where this mancation will head after three more cases of Michelob.

And people wonder why foreigners have such difficulty mastering English…