Is Lifequakes a real word? Can I use on the TOEFL?

[h***@gmail.com]

Earthquakes remain a concern for people living in many places,
including my home in Southern California. This awareness, and fear of
sudden shaking and buildings falling, enters into many conversations.
I recently read a wonderful term and vocabulary word: lifequake. What
does it mean? An event that suddenly changes your life – a car
accident, being laid off, terrible illness, or getting divorced – in
the same dramatic way that an earthquake might destroy a building.

Now I have a new way to ask friends to share more about awkward
situations.
• How did you deal with that lifequake?
• What lifequakes have you survived?
• How will you manage that lifequake?

Is lifequake a real word? Can educated English speakers use it?
Absolutely. New words and slang terms enter English dictionaries all
the time, partly because our world continues to change and evolve.
Lifequake clearly describes a common experience. It's pithy and
practical. While I would might hesisitate about using the term on a
TOEFL or TOEIC test, I plan to incorporate into my daily vocabulary
with family, friends, and students.

A fellow ESL teacher and longtime California resident believes that
“lifequake” was a widely used term in the 1970s among “young, hip
people.” Perhaps. Whether old hipster slang or a new Californian term,
lifequake conveys an understanding that sometimes life can shock and
hurt. Lifequake is a fast way to communicate a harsh reality.
Lifequakes happen.

Don't you agree?

Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visit www.CompellingConversations.com

[Jim Karatassos]

Post by h***@gmail.com
Earthquakes remain a concern for people living in many places,
including my home in Southern California. This awareness, and fear of
sudden shaking and buildings falling, enters into many conversations.
I recently read a wonderful term and vocabulary word: lifequake. What
does it mean? An event that suddenly changes your life – a car
accident, being laid off, terrible illness, or getting divorced – in
the same dramatic way that an earthquake might destroy a building.
Now I have a new way to ask friends to share more about awkward
situations.
•     How did you deal with that lifequake?
•     What lifequakes have you survived?
•     How will you manage that lifequake?
Is lifequake a real word? Can educated English speakers use it?
Absolutely. New words and slang terms enter English dictionaries all
the time, partly because our world continues to change and evolve.
Lifequake clearly describes a common experience. It's pithy and
practical. While I would might hesisitate about using the term on a
TOEFL or TOEIC test, I plan to incorporate into my daily vocabulary
with family, friends, and students.
A fellow ESL teacher and longtime California resident believes that
“lifequake” was a widely used term in the 1970s among “young, hip
people.” Perhaps. Whether old hipster slang or a new Californian term,
lifequake conveys an understanding that sometimes life can shock and
hurt. Lifequake is a fast way to communicate a harsh reality.
Lifequakes happen.
Don't you agree?
Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visitwww.CompellingConversations.com

Eric,

I realize you've received different responses in different groups.
However, "lifequake" is not a real word.

I would definitely advise students not to use the word "lifequake" on
the TOEFL, for a variety of reasons.

The TOEFL is corrected by people all over the place. I would also not
use "squoze" on the test, even though it is also a regional California
term for the past simple form of "squeeze."

I don't know where else you've lived in the world, but I think it's
safe to say that the majority of people worldwide have never
experienced a significant earthquake. The kind of knowledge required
to make a mental leap from "life-changing experience" to "quake" is
something only someone who has been exposed to the mind-altering
reality of the Ur-Erde actually moving under one's feet would have.

So while it certainly seems to be an excellent word to vividly explain
what it feels like to undergo a life-changing experience, it doesn't
mean all that much to most people who will correct this test. The vast
majority of English native speakers do not live in earthquake zones,
and the same is true for English language teachers.

I've found that when reaching for higher scaled scores on the new
TOEFL iBT, it pays to be adventurous when it comes to using a few
select grammatical forms, but it definitely doesn't pay to be
adventurous when it comes to using newly-coined vocabulary. A student
who can use "lifequake" in a sentence and cannot use the word
"conversely" in another sentence is sure to score lower than one who
can make the grade the other way around.

-- Jim

[h***@gmail.com]

Post by Jim Karatassos

Post by h***@gmail.com
Earthquakes remain a concern for people living in many places,
including my home in Southern California. This awareness, and fear of
sudden shaking and buildings falling, enters into many conversations.
I recently read a wonderful term and vocabulary word: lifequake. What
does it mean? An event that suddenly changes your life – a car
accident, being laid off, terrible illness, or getting divorced – in
the same dramatic way that an earthquake might destroy a building.
Now I have a new way to ask friends to share more about awkward
situations.
• How did you deal with that lifequake?
• What lifequakes have you survived?
• How will you manage that lifequake?
Is lifequake a real word? Can educated English speakers use it?
Absolutely. New words and slang terms enter English dictionaries all
the time, partly because our world continues to change and evolve.
Lifequake clearly describes a common experience. It's pithy and
practical. While I would might hesisitate about using the term on a
TOEFL or TOEIC test, I plan to incorporate into my daily vocabulary
with family, friends, and students.
A fellow ESL teacher and longtime California resident believes that
“lifequake” was a widely used term in the 1970s among “young, hip
people.” Perhaps. Whether old hipster slang or a new Californian term,
lifequake conveys an understanding that sometimes life can shock and
hurt. Lifequake is a fast way to communicate a harsh reality.
Lifequakes happen.
Don't you agree?
Ask more. Know more. Share more.
Create Compelling Conversations.
Visitwww.CompellingConversations.com

Eric,
I realize you've received different responses in different groups.
However, "lifequake" is not a real word.
I would definitely advise students not to use the word "lifequake" on
the TOEFL, for a variety of reasons.
The TOEFL is corrected by people all over the place. I would also not
use "squoze" on the test, even though it is also a regional California
term for the past simple form of "squeeze."
I don't know where else you've lived in the world, but I think it's
safe to say that the majority of people worldwide have never
experienced a significant earthquake. The kind of knowledge required
to make a mental leap from "life-changing experience" to "quake" is
something only someone who has been exposed to the mind-altering
reality of the Ur-Erde actually moving under one's feet would have.
So while it certainly seems to be an excellent word to vividly explain
what it feels like to undergo a life-changing experience, it doesn't
mean all that much to most people who will correct this test. The vast
majority of English native speakers do not live in earthquake zones,
and the same is true for English language teachers.
I've found that when reaching for higher scaled scores on the new
TOEFL iBT, it pays to be adventurous when it comes to using a few
select grammatical forms, but it definitely doesn't pay to be
adventurous when it comes to using newly-coined vocabulary. A student
who can use "lifequake" in a sentence and cannot use the word
"conversely" in another sentence is sure to score lower than one who
can make the grade the other way around.
-- Jim

Jim - Agreed.

As you note, "lifequake" is not a common word and is a poor choice for
TOEFL test. Command of more traditional academic words and effective
transitions if more important on TOEFL tests than using hip slang
terms.

I've lived in several countries, and traveled to over 35 countries.
Earthquakes, unfortunately, plague a large percentage of the earth.
I'm not sure how many people will have difficulty making the mental
jump from "earthquake" to "lifequake", but the value of the word was
shown this week in Los Angeles.

We had a very publicized, far too publicized 5.4 earthquake that led
to zero deaths, very few injuries, and almost no property damage
despite an hour of live CNN coverage. This jolt was an earthquake, not
a lifequake!

I've used that line, generating many smiles, nods, and laughs during
the last 50 hours. Lifequake is a very practical term in earthquake
zones.

Eric

[Jim Karatassos]

On Jul 31, 3:21 pm, "***@gmail.com" <***@gmail.com> wrote:

<SNIP>

Post by h***@gmail.com
I've lived in several countries, and traveled to over 35 countries.
Earthquakes, unfortunately, plague a large percentage of the earth.
I'm not sure how many people will have difficulty making the mental
jump from "earthquake" to "lifequake", but the value of the word was
shown this week in Los Angeles.

Eric,

You've missed my point, but I doubt you're big on phenomenology, and
who is, really?

Once again, few English native speakers live in active earthquake
zones, and almost none have experienced the peculiar reality of a
major earthquake. The West Coast of the United States is the only
heavily-populated English-speaking area located in an earthquake zone.
People in LA might understand, but make that joke in London or New
York and others really wouldn't, although I'm certain many would
obligatorily smile at your attempt at wordplay.

This is a map of world earthquake zones:
http://www.scarborough.k12.me.us/wis/teachers/dtewhey/webquest/nature/earthquakes.htm

Living through a major earthquake tends to destroy certain unconscious
assumptions in your head, chief among them being that the "ground" is
immovable and that feeling it firm below your feet is a sensation that
will never change. Experiencing the uncompromising reality that the
ground is not exactly what you take it to be is what's so frightening
about an earthquake for many people, not, in most cases in the
developed world, its tangible effects on life and property. That's
exactly why you had an hour of live coverage on CNN for a 5.4 and a
few busted windows. In Toyko or Athens, you'd get a bored epicenter
announcement in ten minutes, and then nothing.

The realities of living in those zones: you are unusually sensitive to
vibrations, you spend plenty of time watching hanging lighting
fixtures, you worry about the placement of natural gas lines in your
area, you have an earthquake kit near the door in your home, and every
time you feel even a small quake you wonder where the epicenter
was...most English-language native speakers have no idea what this is
like, or what it does to your head over the course of a lifetime.