Tricky Words in this week‘s OVI

Slovak or Slovakian? Sometimes this might look like a useless duality, because these two forms often appear to be interchangeable, there doesn't seem to be any system for deciding which form to use, and most other countries have just one adjective form: America – American, England – English, Japan – Japanese. There's German and Germanic, but in modern usage Germanic doesn't refer to the country Germany, but to an ancient race of people or a group of related languages. However, I think there is a system for choosing which form to use. Use Slovak for things connected with the people and the language, like Slovak culture and Slovak grammar, and use Slovakian for things connected with the country and its geography, like the East Slovakian Steelworks. There's no such thing as "Slovak maintenance", so it must be the Slovakian Maintenance Society.

Andy’s Wordshop

I've been asked if there's an easier name for "contactless payment card" in English, the kind of credit or debit card with a built-in chip or integrated circuit which you hold close to a point-of-sale (POS) terminal to make a payment (sometimes you touch the POS with the card, like on the bus, so it's not always contactless). "Electronic wallet" was suggested, but I've since found that this is more like "online wallet", a way of 'storing' money on the web for use in online shopping. The cards can generally be called smart cards or EMV cards (standing for Europay MasterCard Visa), and then there are various brand names created by the companies running these payment cards, such as PayPass, PayWave, ExpressPay or EasyCard. There are also "rechargeable" travel fare or toll payment cards like Oyster (London) or Touch'n Go (Malaysia).