Unprepossessing

adj.
Meaning: Not overtly impressive; unremarkable; nondescript: an unprepossessing little hotel.

Usage: New York Times - 62 City Women Agree: The Farmer Needs a Wife

Potemkin Village

n.
Meaning: 1. Something that appears elaborate and impressive but in actual fact lacks substance. 2. Purportedly, fake settlements erected at the direction of Russian minister Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin to fool Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787.
(source Answers.com)

Use: FoxNews - Michael Moore's 'Sicko' Attempt at Heart Surgery

Ashram

n.

Meaning: A usually secluded residence of a religious community and its guru.
(Answers.com)

Use: Fortune quoting breakingviews.com in Yahoo's woes run deeper than Semel

Twig

v.
Meaning (from Answers.com):
transitive v.
To observe or notice. To understand or figure out: “The layman has twigged what the strategist twigged almost two decades ago” (Manchester Guardian Weekly).

intransitive v.
To be or become aware of the situation; understand: “As Europe is now twigging, the best breeding ground for innovators who know how to do business is often big, competitive companies” (Economist).

Use: Time Magazine - Bill Gates Goes Back to School

the cloud

n.
Meaning: reference to the network or Internet

Uses: 1. Steve Jobs & Bill Gates at D5 conference.

2. Wired.com - Developers Buzz on Leopard and Safari, Bum Out About IPhone

Velvet Revolution

n.
Meaning: non-violent revolution in Czechoslovakia that saw the overthrow of its Communist gov. (1989)

Use: Washington Post - U.S. says fourth Iranian American detained in Iran

Sturm und Drang

n.
Pronunciation: (shtʊrm' ʊnt dräng')

Meaning (from Answers.com courtesy of American Herritage Dictionary):
1. Turmoil; ferment: “A book's historical roots represent another barrier; so does the personal Sturm und Drang of the author” (Robert Kanigel).
2. A late-18th-century German romantic literary movement whose works typically depicted the struggles of a highly emotional individual against conventional society.

[German, storm and stress, after Sturm und Drang, a drama by Friedrich Maximilian von Klinger (1752–1831).]

Use: NY Times - Waxing Philosophical, Booksellers Face the Digital