"Impossible is a word only to be found in the dictionary of fools."

August 19, 2010 1:47 PM

Climate change and the vuvuzela leave mark on Oxford Dictionary of English. Other words and phrases introduced for the latest edition include 'toxic debt', 'staycation', 'cheesebal' and 'national treasure'. To balance them out among the 2,000 or so new items there are a few more left-field choices. Among them are 'cheeseball', which refers to someone or something lacking taste, style or originality, and the more disturbing phenomenon of 'hikikomori', the Japanese word for the acute social withdrawal that occurs in some teenage boys.
posted by Fizz (18 comments total)

Any idea what a "cheesebal" with one "l" is? I thought it was a Fizz typo, but it's replicated in the original article. Are they leaving off the extra "l" for "loser"? Is there a joke I'm not getting? Or is it just a Guardian typo?
posted by .kobayashi. at 1:51 PM on August 19, 2010

w00t
posted by swift at 1:51 PM on August 19, 2010

I think typo because they spell it correctly (two Ls) in the last paragraph of the article.
posted by Colonel_Chappy at 1:53 PM on August 19, 2010

Probably a guardian typo.
posted by Fizz at 1:53 PM on August 19, 2010

Typos? In the Grauniad? Hevean forbend.
posted by kipmanley at 1:56 PM on August 19, 2010 [5 favorites]

I am sure someone has done a study on the number of typos on a physical newsprint newspaper vs. internet websites/articles. Has the increase in net-readership and media increased the number of typos?
posted by Fizz at 2:00 PM on August 19, 2010

STAYCATION IS AN ABOMINATION! SO IS HOLISTAY! It's one of those catchy things that is amusing once or twice, but when it's part of EVERY FRICKIN NEWSCAST in the summer of 2007, it loses its charm. I was hoping the term would fade out, but apparently it's been lodged too deeply, and now the Oxford Dictionary is making it official.

Sorry, I'm done yelling at the internet for now.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:07 PM on August 19, 2010

Aw, 'staycation'? Really? The emergence of this one in the last few years bothers me as it seems to imply that in the past whenever someone took time off work they all went to Tahiti or something. I was really hoping this term would fade away.
posted by Kirk Grim at 2:09 PM on August 19, 2010

"This dictionary is not based on the Oxford English Dictionary and should not be mistaken for a new or updated version of the OED."
posted by gubo at 2:09 PM on August 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

You are correct. I have removed that particular tag.
posted by Fizz at 2:11 PM on August 19, 2010

Did they include "Funemployment"?
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:24 PM on August 19, 2010

FUNeral?
posted by blue_beetle at 3:20 PM on August 19, 2010

Is it just me, or does "vuvuzela" sound like the nether regions of a South American woman?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 5:52 PM on August 19, 2010

How about fratire? Is fratire in there?

God I hope not.
posted by kipmanley at 6:18 PM on August 19, 2010

How about fratire? Is fratire in there?

What is...
Great, now I am dumber than I was this morning.
posted by atrazine at 6:30 PM on August 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Just now? The vuvuzela article on Wikipedia was created in 2006.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:16 PM on August 19, 2010

We used to use 'cheesebowl' in the North of England for somethign or someone that was, well, cheesy.
posted by mippy at 1:22 AM on August 20, 2010

'Hikkiomori' can refer to girls too, you know. One example is the girl in Murakamis "the wind up bird chronicles".
posted by yoHighness at 2:11 AM on August 20, 2010