OMG, It’s official
Every year we continue to coin, clip, and blend a huge amount of new words into existence that we use every day. I was curious to see how many actually made it into our dictionary. Here are just a few recent additions with their official definitions.
1. Bling (n): Expensive, ostentatious clothing and jewelry.
2. Bromance (n): A close but non-sexual relationship between two men.
3. Chillax (v): Calm down and relax.
4. Crunk (adj): Very excited or full of energy.
5. D’oh (ex): Exclamation used to comment on a foolish or stupid action, especially one’s own.
6. Droolworthy (adj): Extremely attractive or desirable.
7. Frankenfood (n): Genetically modified food.
8. Grrrl (n): A young woman regarded as independent and strong or aggressive, especially in her attitude to men or in her sexuality (A blend of “Grrrr” and “Girl.”)
9. Guyliner (n): Eyeliner that is worn by men.
10. Hater (n): A person who greatly dislikes a specified person or thing.
11. Illiterati (n): People who are not well educated or well informed about a particular subject or sphere of activity.
12. Infomania (n): The compulsive desire to check or accumulate news and information, typically via mobile phone or computer.
13. Jeggings (n): Tight-fitting stretch trousers for women, styled to resemble a pair of denim jeans.
14. La-la Land (n): A fanciful state or dream world. Also, Los Angeles.
15. Locavore (n): A person whose diet consists only or principally of locally grown or produced food.
16. Mankini (n): A brief one-piece bathing garment for men, with a T-back.
17. Mini-Me (n): A person closely resembling a smaller or younger version of another.
18. Muffin Top (n): A roll of fat visible above the top of a pair of women’s tight-fitting low-waisted trousers.
19. Muggle (n): A person who is not conversant with a particular activity or skill.
20. Noob (n): A person who is inexperienced in a particular sphere or activity, especially computing or the use of the Internet.
21. Obvs (adv): Obviously.
22. OMG (ex): Used to express surprise, excitement, or disbelief. (Dates back to 1917.)
23. Po-po (n): The police.
24. Purple State (n): A US state where the Democratic and Republican parties have similar levels of support among voters.
25. Screenager (n): A person in their teens or twenties who has an aptitude for computers and the Internet.
26. Sexting (n): The sending of sexually explicit photographs or messages via mobile phone.
27. Textspeak (n): Language regarded as characteristic of text messages, consisting of abbreviations, acronyms, initials, emoticons. (wut hpns win u write lyk dis.)
28. Totes (adv): Totally.
29. Truthiness (n): the quality of seeming or being felt to be true, even if not necessarily true.
30. Twitterati (n): Keen or frequent users of the social networking site Twitter.
31. Unfriend (v): Remove (someone) from a list of friends or contacts on a social networking site.
32. Upcycle (v): Reuse (discarded objects or material) in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original.
33. Whatevs (ex, adv): Whatever.
34. Whovian (n): A fan of the British science-fiction television series Doctor Who.
35. Woot (ex): (Especially in electronic communication) Used to express elation, enthusiasm, or triumph.
Recommend0 recommendationsPublished in Senior Chatters
Im a ‘noob’ !!!
Lol lol i’m officially a ” Noob ” too.
Wow – if they are in the dictionary – I know have more words to use in SCRABBLE! Crunk!
Wow – if they are in the dictionary – I now have more words to use in SCRABBLE! Crunk!
Wow totes amazeballs. xxx
Thank you and I will have to check an American dictionary. Aren’t you the smart one and ty very much.
I was going to post something deep and profound for this month’s Blog entry. After all, it’s Christmas time and there’s always lots one can say about that. And of course South African leader Nelson Mandela just passed away. I had considered writing something deeply insightful about that, making sharp-witted comparisons of Mandela to Gandhi and MLK: men of peace who changed the world in their time. But I had just written a similar piece about President John F. Kennedy last month. Then it struck me — boring! (Writing with inner passion doesn’t always come to me via the most obvious routes it seems.)
Surely there has been enough said by now about Nelson Mandela, and I was just not that stoked about adding my pound of “punditism” to the already overcovered news event. Hundreds of thousands of words are being written at this moment (and will continue to be for some time to come) about Nelson Mandela ending Apartheid rule in South Africa. So who really wants to read any more about the fallen leader, I asked? Thus, in keeping with the season’s festive spirit, I decided to write about “words” themselves…just words…and some phrases, too, because generally one leads to the other. (Yes, this is another one of my tongue-in-cheek Blog posts.)
Do It Your Selfie
It occurred to me how our language has been drastically warped, both orally and verbally, by our commonspeak, our technology, and of course The Sainted Media which can invent a witty catch phrase for anything that happens, anywhere, at any time. The most recent term I heard (which actually does relate to Nelson Mandela) is “Selfie.” This is when you snap a photo of yourself and your friends with your cell-phone camera. This was actually THE biggest news story to come out of South Africa this week. President Barack Obama, Britain’s PM David Cameron, and some blondish Duchess were caught snapping a “Selfie” of themselves during Mandela’s memorial service like a group of college kids on spring break. (Personally, I’d never heard the term before.) Of all the things the press could have focused on at such a time — with an entire nation in mourning — the Selfie is what grabbed the headlines.
At first I thought the media had invented another ridiculous term as they so often do, as in the case of Nerbs. A Nerb is a bastardized noun that’s been made into a verb, used by lazy news writers. An example would be “President Obama ‘helicoptered’ to Camp David today,” rather than “President Obama flew to Camp David today aboard Marine 1.” This butchering of the English language has been going on for decades and the Press just keeps pushing the limits with it, believing the practice to be word-thrifty and efficient. But — getting back to “Selfies” — veteran newsman Charlie Rose said the term is actually in the dictionary now, so I guess that accords it some degree of de-facto validation, even allowing for the fact that Merriam-Webster will sleeve any silly word between its pages just to keep its big book evolving…and of course selling. This is a “vital public service.”
So the Winners Are…
So all this got me thinking about the many buzz phrases we unwittingly use in our vernacular speech, even in our formal writing. Here’s just a few of the newest ones…off the top of my head:
•”Back in the Day” — This phrase seems to be gaining traction as the Baby Boomers get older. Footnote: Wasn’t “Baby Boomer” once just a media buzz term, like “helicoptered?” Ummm…that must have been way “back in the day.”
•”Reach Out” or “Reaching Out” — You hear and see this a lot in business jargon. We no longer communicate with people, we “reach out” to them instead. I often wonder if this phrase is a result of the sweeping “Zombie” craze. It seems that those ghoulish ZOMS are always “reaching out” for people, too.
•”Going Forward” — Whenever anything is accomplished these days, and things are ready to move on to the next step in our frantic, 21st-century lives, someone will write or say, “Going forward” and then launch into some narrative. (Dare that we should ever pause to look back from whence it was we came from to start with.)
•”That Said” or “That Being Said” — Speaking of segues, this is similar to “Going Forward” only it promises so much more. Indeed, this is THE granddaddy of all segues. The phrase allows the user to preface anything with a long-winded explanation or “foreword,” and then launch into some lengthy, even longer-winded, oration that can rival that of Mark Antony’s speech to the Romans following Julius Caesar’s assassination or any of Hamlet’s introspective soliloquies. “That Being Said!” Try not to yawn too loudly when you hear this one coming.
Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention all the “Netspeak” flying over the airwaves these days. This, of course, has come about via the Information Age: OMG, BRB, G2G, IMHO, LMAO — the list is nearly endless. Soon we will be communicating by cryptic code so much that smoke signals will be easier to decipher.
I know there’s a great deal of phraseology that I haven’t covered here; as I think of more, I’ll add to this post later. THAT BEING SAID, please accept this submission in the spirit of mirth and merriment with which it was drafted. And if I think of any more verbal gems, then I’ll BRB. GOING FORWARD, have a genuine Courier & Ives Christmas, just as they did…BACK IN THE DAY.