OED new words

March 22, 2004 5:27 AM

F-word now a word, as well as : twelve-incher, sheepshagger, and old man of the woods! The newest real English words now in the OED.
posted by mfoight (10 comments total)

What, still no entry for asshat ?
posted by swordfishtrombones at 7:08 AM on March 22, 2004

And what exactly does twelve-incher mean? I mean... I have *my* definition, but it certainly can't be that enough people are gifted for this to be in common use. ;)
posted by woil at 7:28 AM on March 22, 2004

(At catching fish I mean.)
posted by woil at 7:28 AM on March 22, 2004

Does anyone know what's up with the "0898"? Surely the OED didn't accept it just for an "up and coming unsigned UK punk band"?
posted by Ufez Jones at 8:05 AM on March 22, 2004

Twelve-incher, n.

Something that measures twelve inches in length, diameter, height, etc.; spec. (a) a cannon with a bore of twelve inches; (b) a twelve-inch record.
posted by mfoight at 9:30 AM on March 22, 2004

Amazing that it took them this long to add Barbie, who turns 43 this year.
posted by Lynsey at 9:40 AM on March 22, 2004

"0898 number" is the UK equivalent of "976 number" in the US—generally a chat line, but in general any pay-per-minute phone service.
posted by hades at 9:43 AM on March 22, 2004

Bah, thanks, hades. You'd think I'd remember that from all those awkward conversations in London calling my mom while staring at the naked women on fliers for phone sex.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:36 AM on March 22, 2004

Do we really have to have a post every time the OED adds a couple of flash-in-the-pan words?
posted by me3dia at 3:02 PM on March 22, 2004

Uh, Ufez, those ladies' fliers in the phone booths aren't offering 'phone' sex, they're offering the real deal....

Incidentally, cue anguished hand wringing last year when the papers discovered that school children were swapping working girls' fliers as top trumps complete with presumed - one hopes! - scores!!

me3dia: don't be such a grump! :)
posted by dmt at 6:28 AM on March 23, 2004