Chiasm

An intersection or crossing of two tracts in the form of the letter X.

I do not know if it is a recent trend, but lately I have noticed the use of -asm and -gasm as suffixes for consumer products. Last week I spotted a store called "Shoegasm," and a few months ago a wine bar called "Winegasm" opened in my neighborhood. 

I guess sex and sexuality pervade our society just enough to allow sexual climax to be associated with seemingly non-sexual products. Shoes and wine are one thing, but where are we a society if flour and wheat are to come with sexual climax suffixed to them?

I understand the joke, of course, even if I am not one to publicly express sensual delight over something like footwear or alcoholic imbibement. Food and clothing are, to me, not sources of pleasure but basic requirements for staying alive.

I think the first time I was introduced to the word "orgasm" in a seemingly non-sexual context was in a discussion about the movie "The Wild Bunch," directed by Sam Peckinpah. The violence in that film was described as "orgasmic," a term which I have also heard in other places, such as discussion of guns in the movie "Taxi Driver" and in talk of Jackson Pollock’s "action" paintings.

None of this has any bearing on "Chiasm," and no connection to that word is expected. As with most words on this Word of the Day, I chose it because I liked how it sounded, not for its meaning.