metoo

[Dr. M. Hfuhruhurr]

What's up with this rather odd "metoo" word?  I entered it in the Collins Dictionary/Scrabble Word finder and it didn't recognise it.  If it's not Scrabble worthy then it's not a word to be taken seriously (for now, anyway).

[rogue_mother]

What do you mean by "taken seriously"? It's not on the common list, so it's already not taken seriously. Perhaps you mean that it shouldn't be included in the Chihuahua lexicon at all because it is not in your dictionary of choice.

But it's not my practice to remove words completely from our list once they're in there.

As to how it got there in the first place, you can read about how Alan compiled the lexicon.

[anona]

But what does it mean? A quick online search didn't give me an answer, either. I could see meToo, but thought that was a very recent invention and I'm not sure it's actually a word rather than the name of a site.

[rogue_mother]

According to TheFreeDictionary.com (one of the suggested online dictionaries linked to on the Chihuahua page), metoo is an adjective meaning "using principles, practices, or designs copied from and closely similar to those of a rival". It has both a hyphenated and un-hyphenated form.

[anona]

Well, well! Thank you, RM. I knew you would be able to put me on the right path.

[Calilasseia]

This term finds usage in the pharmaceutical industry, as in "me-too drugs". Namely, drugs that are manufactured in order to escape patents applicable to an original, upon which the derivatives are modelled closely enough to have the same effect, but with sufficient chemical differences to warrant their own patents. Usually, the term is applied disparagingly to variations on a theme, that do not provide sufficient extra benefit over the original to warrant effort being expended upon them, but which are produced in order to try and grab market share from the original. The canonical examples are tranquillisers that don't exhibit measurable additional potency or efficacy over an original, but which are made in order to cash in on a lucrative market.

[Alan W]

The term has been around for a long time, but usually as a hyphenated compound. For example the Review of Decatur, Illinois, in 1886:

Some of the New York papers are giving considerable space to Senator Cullom, stating that he is no ‘me-too’ senator, but an independent force within himself.

The American Heritage Dictionary recognizes metoo as a variant. This is the source of the Free Dictionary entry rogue_mother mentions. An example of this form in use is from the Economic Times of India in 2015:

Dishes that had seemed fresh and “quirky” on restaurant menus — vada pao, pork belly, Indian tacos — got so pervasive at metoo establishments this year that if I eat one more of those, I will break into helpless sobs.

[Dr. M. Hfuhruhurr]

Wow! Thanks for the information, rogue-mother, Calilasseia and Alan W.  There was just something about that word that piqued my interest.  I apologise for my narrow-mindedness; I'm normally quite open-minded when it comes to lexicology: It's such a complex and ever-evolving behemoth of a subject that it's practically organic!  I won't be forgetting metoo in a hurry; I wish I could say the same for every other unusual word out there.