Dictionary

Californication en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˌkælɪˈfɔɹnɪˈkeɪʃən/ (US)
• /ˌkælɪˈfɔːnɪˈkeɪʃən/ (UK)
• (US) audio

Etymology

From Californ(ia) + -ication. First use appears c. 1947. Especially popularized by the use as title for a song (1999) and a TV series (2007–2014). Sexual sense either directly from a blend of California + fornication or rebracketing as Cali + fornication.

Meanings

1. (uncountable) The adoption of practices and beliefs associated with California, in particular Hollywood and Silicon Valley.
   • Indeed, if popular culture can be said to be dispersed in a process of global Californication, then no less should intellectual culture be seen as the product of the Routledgification of the world[.] 1992, Ien Ang, John Hartley, “Useful Astonishment”, in Cultural Studies, page 458:
   • Alternatively, one could hope that Californication works: that large numbers of people of immensely diverse racial, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds really can mix and blend while yet retaining a sufficiently common civic culture for America to survive as a free, democratic and self-confident nation. […] So we should learn from the Americans. What Europe needs is more Californication. 2003 August 14, Timothy Garton Ash, “God's crucible”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 26 Feb 2021:
2. (humorous, uncountable) Sexual intercourse in California or in a Californian style.
   • A teenage bride with a baby inside getting high on information / And buy me a star on the boulevard, it's Californication 1999, “Californication”, in Californication, performed by Red Hot Chili Peppers:
   • Isaac was pictured as the only male in the state who could satisfy his many succubi, and the Californication took place on his couch in City Hall, in the Temple, in saloons, in his carriage, in his home, oh, just anywhere. 1947, M. Marion Marberry, The Golden Voice - A Biography of Isaac Kalloch, page 311:
3. (US, derogatory, qualifier:urban studies, uncountable) The large-scale development of land; urban sprawl.
   • It's also culturally unique, its natives resisting many elements of "californication", the "glintzy" urban sprawl typified by Los Angeles. a. 1981, Coda: Poets and Writers Newsletter, page 17:
   • If the intermountain West, from New Mexico to Montana, is today running scared of growth and Californication, the Great Plains is a large slice of the West that does not share that particular fear. 1996, Dan L[ouie] Flores, “A Long Love Affair with an Uncommon Country: Environmental History and the Great Plains”, in Fred B. Samson, Fritz L. Knopf, editors, Prairie Conservation: Preserving North America’s Most Endangered Ecosystem, Washington, D.C.; Covelo, Calif.: Island Press, →ISBN, part 1 (Value in Prairie), page 5:
   • Thirty years ago, voters in Portland, Ore., adopted strict growth limits to prevent “Californication” of their landscape. Circumscribed by the nation's first “urban growth boundary,” the Portland region made itself an artificial island on the land with the explicit goal of not becoming another L.A. 2000 March 3, D. J. Waldie, “Do the Voters Really Hate Sprawl?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 02 Nov 2021:

Forms

Relateds

Los Angelization · Californianization · Californicate · Mexifornication

Synonyms

Californification · Californianization

wikipedia: Californication (TV series) · wikipedia: Californication (song)