Tuesday Word: gamomania

[ellesieg.livejournal.com]

Gamomania is an obsession with getting married or making odd and/or extravagant marriage proposals. Someone who really wants to settle down yet has been plagued by a series of relationships in which suggesting you add each other on Facebook or swap spare house keys is met with horror may initially find a gamomaniac refreshing. However, their ardor is bound to fade once they realize that the opposite extreme is really no better, or even worse, and conclude they're better off putting in the monumental effort required to break through a commitment-phobe's defenses. So what if Lloyd didn't want to meet my parents? At least he could buy a loaf of bread without proposing to the cashier.

Gamomania is comprised of the prefix gamo-, meaning "united" (here, union via marriage), and, of course, -mania, a disordered mental state characterized by an unusually strong interest in or desire for something. In the IPA, it is ɡæmə(ʊ)ˈmeɪnɪə, which sounds something like "game-O-may-knee-uh."