McWord

The idea of McWorld is closely linked to the theory of the McDonaldization of Society put forward by social theorist George Ritzer. In its essence this theory links every day activities with similar working processes that are used in McDonald restaurants.

A McWord is a word that has had the prefix Mc- attached to represent an association with the McDonald's restaurant chain. McDonald's itself initiated the practice and still uses the Mc- prefix to create new brands associated with the chain's McDonald's brand name. Persons and groups have also used the Mc- prefix in a usually negative fashion to indicate that something has qualities similar to the McDonald's chain.

McDonald's products and marketing terms with the Mc- prefix include:

• Many McDonald's menu items
• McCafé
• McDonaldland
• McDrive[1]
• McFlexible
• McGourmet
• McInternet - In the United States, a free Wi-Fi service in some McDonalds Restaurants. In Venezuela, it is an Internet cafe service offered in a few McDonald's Restaurants.
• Mayor McCheese
• Ronald McDonald
• McComplex, food-processing supplier for McDonalds in Russia and CIS
• McState - Official McDonalds Job and Career Search[2]

McWords not used by McDonald's

By analogy, other parties use the prefix also, referring to McDonald's and its associated cultural effects. Thus new words, called McWords, are created. Most of these terms have a negative connotation.

• McChurch - a megachurch
• McDojo - A dojo which is not technically authentic. Generally they hold large classes and require legalistic contracts, and have gimmicks like 'Black Belt in a year' programs.
• McDonaldization - Term used in George Ritzer's thesis
• McJesus - Types of Christianity that are prepared and sold to a mass market and therefore de-sanctified
• McJob - A low-paying job in which one serves as an interchangeable cog in a corporate machine; originally appearing in an article in The Washington Post in 1986 and later popularised by Douglas Coupland's novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture
• McLibel case - A famous libel case in England in which McDonalds won a pyrrhic victory
• McMansion - Quickly-built mansions, as much alike as McDonald's hamburgers - a group of large houses built in the same style in the same area.
• McMedicine - A healthcare industry practice that is thought to overdiagnose and overprescribe medication for profit or convenience
• McSlave - One who does a McJob
• McMurder or McMassacre - The 1984 McDonald's massacre, in which James Oliver Huberty killed 21 customers and wounded 19 others. Also a website mcmurder.com that chronicles this and other murders that have happened at McDonalds restaurants.
• McPaper (or McNews)- A newspaper that is considered manufactured and 'for the masses' because of its simplistic prose style and flashy use of colors. Typically used in reference to USA Today.
• McKids - a group of children that are obese, presumably from eating too much fast food. (McKids was also once a McDonalds-branded clothing line at Sears.)
• McOndo - a Latin American literary movement. The name is a spoof on the fictional village of Macondo.
• McWorld - The globalized Earth. Used in a critical way to emphasize the depreciation of local culture in favor of a global culture prescribed by large corporations. (The term was also used in a McDonald's advertising campaign in the 1990s depicting a world ruled by kids.)

See also

• Cocacolonization
• Disneyfication
• Walmarting