Fo Yo Info

There's a certain style of abbreviated slang that has recently become very trendy, especially in the related worlds of marketing and celebrity name-dropping. I'm sure you've seen these catchy abbreviations slowly multiply in gossip magazines, talk show monologues, and teenagers' tweets. First Hollywood brought us JLo, then along came LiLo and ScarJo. Meanwhile, department stores started having BOGO sales, and then FroYo shops suddenly popped up from SoHo to Togo. It's enough to make one a little loco.

So, yo, as a public service, here's a helpful guide to the most prevalent, useful, or "with it" examples of this new vernacular. Now you too can be a pro in the know.

JoGo: Actor Joseph Gordon Levitt.
Coco: Comedian Conan O'Brien.
HoJo: a Howard Johnson's restaurant or pop icon Howard Jones, depending on whether it is 1986.
CoHo: Halifax lesbian bar the Company House.
GoFo: Halifax hipster dive the Good Food Emporium.
gofoyo: either "good for you" or "go perform a technically impossible sex act," depending on context.
dobro: a kind of steel guitar invented by the Dopyera brothers.
doughbro: the Pillsbury Doughboy.
Pono: a new recording format invented by ex-member of Buffalo Springfield Neil Young.
Poco: a country rock band comprising ex-members of Buffalo Springfield who are not Neil Young. Also, a mime on Canadian children's show Mr. Dressup.
PoMo: (arch.) post-modern (a mostly meaningless adjective used to sound hip in 1986).
YoRo: Halifax graphic design team Yo Rodeo.
SloBlo: a brand of electrical fuse.
BroRo: men's rowing team.
YOLO: "you only live once" (popular excuse for reckless behaviour).
YODO: "you only die once" (less popular rebuttal).
spocoHoCo: sports commentator Howard Cosell.
dojo: a martial arts training centre.
DoJo: tan 1986 celebrity Don Johnson.
JoTo: Trailer Park Boy Jonathan Torrens.
mofo: a nasty person.
mofo (as adapted by Miles Davis): a person.
fauxmo: a man who pretends to be gay to lend credibility to his questionable style.
boho: bohemian.
hobo: bohemian to a fault.
NoHo: area of Manhattan north of Houston Street.
no ho: a reputable woman.
zoso: a nonsense word unpopular male high school students carve into their desks in lieu of sexual relations.
Wojo: Detective Stan Wojciehowicz of TV sitcom Barney Miller.