FAUXHEMIAN

(FOH.hee.mee.un)

adj.

Relating to something that is bohemian in a fake or pretentious manner. — n. A middle class or wealthy person who affects a countercultural lifestyle. Also: faux-hemian.

He sits, of course, at a coffeehouse in the Tower District, because this 3-square-mile area is by common definition the funky part of Fresno. Call it what you will: alternative, artsy, bohemian, fauxhemian.

— Diana Marcum, "Tower Turmoil," The Fresno Bee, March 4, 2001

Being bohemian — or counterculture, or alternative or whatever you want to call it — used to be all about dichotomy: you chose one life at the expense of another. Opt out of corporate life to run a literary magazine, and you had to live in a fifth-floor walkup, shop in thrift stores, drive an old VW bug and eat at hole-in-the-wall cafes. On the other hand, you got to cling to your unsullied ideals and aesthetic sense. For many, the bohemian life was just a youthful phase. You could have your freedom for so long, then you had to go work for the Man. Now, of course, it's difficult to find an actual bohemian, yet boho trappings that vaguely suggest counterculture taste are everywhere, because the fauxhemian idea is that you don't have to choose anymore. You can be mainstream and alternative, a grown-up and a hipster, all at the same time.

— Rob Walker, "Fauxhemian Rhapsody," The New York Times, January 23, 2000

This term — a rare portmanteau specimen that is both pitch-perfectly euphonious and eyebrow-raisingly witty — blends faux, imitation (1975), with bohemian (1848).It was coined by writer Rob Walker:

Thanks to subscriber Janet Roberts for telling me about today's word.

bobo

fakester

faux kidnapping

fauxhawk

fauxmosexual

fauxtography

green accounting

Lexus liberal

schmooseoisie

sock puppet

SUV Democrat

triple bottom line

trustafarian

Demographics

People

Surely the pronunciation is foh.HEE.mee.un, not FOH.hee.mee.un