Welcome to American Vocabulary! (Again.)

Needed this so I could put up the image. I'll have cooler images in the future.

Afloat

To be literally afloat is to be floating above the water. To be figuratively afloat is to be financially afloat; that is, to be making money rather than losing it.

Spamming

Spam is an acronym for spiced ham. This has become a metaphor for anything cheap, mass produced, and inflicted upon the wider universe. Thus, spamming is the sending out of cheap, mass produced electronic messages. "Spamming e-mails" means sending out a large amount of identical e-mails to different people. Ex.: "Someone's spamming Viagra advertisements again. Ugh!"

Overhaul

An "overhaul" is a major action to fix something that is viewed by the speaker as flawed or broken. Ex.: "That truck needs a complete overhaul or it will be completely useless." Ex. #2: "President Barack Obama laid out his case Thursday for an overhaul of immigration laws...." This refers to widespread change to fix immigration laws (from President Obama's personal and political point of view).

Chemo

Short for "chemotherapy," the use of chemicals to fight cancer in the human body. Often reduced to "chemo" in ordinary American speech, news headlines, and so forth.