Wednesday, October 1, 2014

New Words and Phrases for 2014

The Oxford English Dictionary and the Merriam-Webster Dictionary update their additions once a year. Their web pages will list more words that are not added formally to their printed editions.

Both the printed and the web pages are interesting for their choices. I am not a purist when it comes to languages. I use many slang terms. I also appreciate that the English languages, both American and British, change quickly mainly due to the internet and the number of people who use English to communicate either in a chat room or while conducting business. What I do not understand is how some of these words and phrases make it into a hard bound copy of a dictionary. Some seem like slang and a fleeting fantasy while others make sense and will stay in use in a quarter of century. I starred the words I think will disappear in a decade or less. What do you think?

CATFISH: 1. any of an order of chiefly freshwater stout-bodied scaleless bony fishes having long tactile barbels; *2. a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes
*CROWDFUNDING:  the practice of soliciting financial contributions from a large number of people especially from the online community

FRACKING: the injection of fluid into shale beds at high pressure in order to free up petroleum resources (such as oil or natural gas)
*FREEGAN: an activist who scavenges for free food (as in waste receptacles at stores and restaurants) as a means of reducing consumption of resources
*GAMIFICATION: the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (as a task) so as to encourage participation
HASHTAG: a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet)
PHO: a soup made of beef or chicken broth and rice noodles
POUTINE: chiefly Canada; a dish of French fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds
*TURDUCKEN: a boneless chicken stuffed into a boneless duck stuffed into a boneless turkey

SMH: shaking my head negatively

*AMAZEBALLS: extremely good or impressive; amazing

*DOX or DOXX: publishing private or identifying information about a specific individual with  malicious intent

ACQUIHIRE: buying a company for the value of its staff and not for the product or service itself

CLICKBACK: content on the internet that draws attention to and thus visitors to a specific web page

*VAX: vaccination

*HUMBLEBRAG: ostensibly modest, self deprecating comment to draw attention one’s self or accomplishments

*HENCH: man who is physically fit

*ADORBS: cute, adorabable

*MANSPLAIN: man, usually, explaining to a woman, usually, something using a condescending manner


*LISTICLE: article on the internet that uses bullet point or numbers for emphasis or clarity

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