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#178942 08/29/08 07:10 PM
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Pleonexia as an affliction seems closely related to
 Quote:
Affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream.
(From a 1997 PBS special; http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/home.html )

"Affluenza" received an Honourable Mention in 2006 from the Macquarie Dictionary -- almost the Word of the Year if it weren't for "muffin top." (Hmm, the result of squeezing a bloated body into fashionably tight pants; was the body bloated or the clothing purchased due to pleonexia?)

Word Spy cites Tom Shales, 1979, for the earliest use in print. http://www.wordspy.com/words/affluenza.asp

Liza Jane #178947 08/30/08 08:11 AM
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The World Vision Australia aid organisation recently ran this spoof on the condition of teenage affluenza. It would be funny if it weren't so accurate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFZz6ICzpjI


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