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
on Aug 19, 2010 -
18 comments
Save the Words. Do lost words still have meaning? J
ust because society has neglected them doesn't make them any less of a word.
How do you get lost words back in the dictionary? With lexicogra
ph
ers scanning publications and other communication for words not curr
ently housed in the dictiona
ry, all y
ou need do is use your adopted words as often as possible.
Go,
Adop
t a Word.
Like gra
oc
rac
y.*
* - government by an old woman or women.
[more inside]
posted by Tufa
on Jan 29, 2009 -
37 comments
The Dictionary of Coming to Terms with the Past (
Wörterbuch der 'Vergangenheitsbewältigung') examines over 1,000 German words that have Nazi connotations, such as
Endlösung (Final Solution) and
Selektion, It is featured in a
review by der Spiegel. Such loaded words still constitute a minefield for Germans today, as the Archbishop of Cologne
discovered last year in a situation
analogized to Senator Biden's use of the term "articulate" when referring to Senator Obama.
[more inside]
posted by Rumple
on Feb 17, 2008 -
49 comments
Wikiwords is a collaborative project to create a dictionary of all terms in all languages.
posted by anjamu
on Aug 11, 2006 -
18 comments
Were you a
minger, sporting a
mullet, looking a bit
naff when you were getting
mullered while out
on the pull, anytime before 1988? Or were you
posh and
minted, looking
snazzy after spending your
dosh to get a
nip and tuck before 1980? If so, the Oxford English Dictionary and the
BBC need you for their
Wordhunt – a call to help find the earliest verifiable usages of a
list of words from the past decades whose origin is still uncertain.
posted by funambulist
on Jan 9, 2006 -
28 comments
Merrian-Webster open dictionary "Have you spotted a new word or a new sense for an old word that hasn't made it into the dictionary yet? Well, here's your chance to add your discovery (and its definition) to Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary"
posted by robbyrobs
on Dec 11, 2005 -
22 comments
If you don't like dictionary posts, look away, NOW!
But if you like to play with words, the dictionarians at
Merriam-Webster have announced the winners in their poll for the
Ten Favorite Words for 2004:
defenestration,
serendipity,
onomatopoeia,
discombobulate,
plethora,
callipygian,
juxtapose,
persnickety,
kerfuffle and
flibbertigibbet
Also, a list of runners-up with more of my personal faves: oxymoron, copacetic, curmudgeon, conundrum,
euphemism, superfluous, and of course, Smock! Smock! Smock!
[more inside]
Via vidiot.
posted by wendell
on Jun 12, 2004 -
41 comments
The Wingnut Debate Dictionary - spice up your political screeds with some colorful new terms like
Colmestrato (n.) - an emasculated, harmless "liberal" stand-in included for purposes of fairness and balance and
Condiment - a statement that needs to be taken with a heavy pinch of salt. I am
so adding
Deus ex rectum and
Stepford Democrat to my vocabulary. And how is it that
fucksimilie hasn't found it's way here long before now?
This is a game that MeFi wags of all political persuasions can play...anyone have any terms to add to the lexicon?
(compiled by Ethel the Blog)
posted by madamjujujive
on Nov 7, 2003 -
25 comments
Dungeons and Dragons, bigorexia, arse-licker, bass-ackward... The online OED (Oxford English Dictionary) quarterly adds a host of new words to the canon of what has become the standard dictionary of the english language(s). Some of the new and spicey words are: arsehole, arseholed, arse-lick,arse-licker, ass-backward,
ass-backwards, bass-ackward, bass-ackwards, dragon lady,
Dungeons and Dragons, telenovela, and transgenderist!!
Thank the gods of language for these new words! So what is you favorite new word and why?
posted by mfoight
on Mar 17, 2003 -
26 comments
Worthless Word for the Day. Ever feel as if an "obscure, abstruse and/or recondite word" was forced into a newspaper/magazine/quote? Now there's a site that finally finds and provides wwftd! Impress your friends.
posted by geoff.
on Oct 21, 2002 -
13 comments
Jedi (n) and Klingon (n) will now be listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. As will
Ass-Backward. Given
MetaFilter's interest in grammar this seems worth noting. How the editors decided that "Jedi" is worth inclusion but "Stormtrooper" is not is a conversation I would have loved to have heard. Naturally, people complaining about such inclusions
ain't new. However, when words are removed from the same dictionary
it's hardly noticed. Clearly unused words go away, so why do people make a stink about this year after year? Slow news cycles? Or is it an extension of the
Prescriptivist - Descriptivist Argument with the Prescripts making a push for the "hearts and minds" of the public?
posted by herc
on Sep 26, 2002 -
35 comments
Logophilia Heard any good words lately? Emo, tribal marketing, google bombing, adultescent, go commando, alpha girl, hand salsa, shoegaze, alcopop, suicide magnet.
posted by andrewzipp
on Jul 9, 2002 -
24 comments
Uber-dictionary! If you're a student and get your access through a university, there's a fairly good chance the university subscribes to the Oxford English Dictionary online. Which means you get the OED too!
regardless, it's 100x the dictionary m-w is.
posted by clockwork
on Oct 18, 2001 -
23 comments
