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[johnslat]

New Words for the Dictionary
by Mike Krumboltz

"he English language is always evolving. There was a time when words like email, x-ray, and d'oh were nowhere to be found in the dictionary. Today, we add a few more new words to the tome.

The bookworms behind the Oxford Dictionary of English recently released a list of 2,000 or so new words that will be added to their next edition. Some of the new words include staycation, social media, and the groan-inducing chillax.

The list sparked massive interest on the Web and, we can safely assume, a lot of questions from folks who don't know a staycation from a vacation, or a bromance from a romance. (FYI: A staycation is like a vacation, but you stay at home and save money. And a bromance is a "close but non-sexual relationship between two men.")

Perhaps the most high-profile word to be added to the dictionary this year is vuvuzela. For those who slept through the World Cup, a vuvuzela is the one-note plastic horn that creates a horrendously annoying sound. That's our definition. The official one, via the Oxford Dictionary of English, is a bit more balanced: "A long plastic instrument, in the shape of a trumpet, which makes a very loud noise when you blow it and is popular with football fans in South Africa."

Some other popular additions include frenemy ("a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry"), cheeseball ("lacking taste, style or originality"), and wardrobe malfunction ("an instance of a person accidentally exposing an intimate part of their body as result of an article of clothing slipping out of position.")

http://buzz.yahoo.com/buzzlog/93942?fp=1

But

Oxford dictionary shuns not so "faboosh" words

"Are you a tanorexic partial to a bit of flashpacking, but hate your cankles?
If you're not lost for words already then you are either ahead of the linguistic curve or privy to the secrets of a little-known vault at the Oxford University Press.
There, filed away and stored alphabetically on small white cards are the words submitted to but deemed unsuitable for inclusion in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
The thousands of words denied a place in the dictionary, which describes itself as the definitive record of the English language, are consigned to the vault because they are either too odd or have not gained enough currency in common usage.
"They are simply words that we have not included in our dictionary up until this point because we have not yet seen sufficient evidence of their usage," Fiona Mooring, senior assistant editor of the OED's new words group told Reuters in an e-mail.
"Tanorexia," an obsession with getting a tan, "flashpacking," glamorous backpacking, and "cankles," thick ankles are just three of the quirky words on record in the non-word vault.
A new word is not included in the OED unless it has "caught on." To make the cut, there must be several independent examples of the word in writing over a "reasonable" length of time.
"The exact time-span and number of examples may vary: for instance, one word may be included on the evidence of only a few examples, spread out over a long period of time, while another may gather momentum very quickly," said Mooring.
Until they win over the dictionary's editorial team, "ham," a non-Spam e-mail, and "prehab," preventive rehab, must stay in linguistic limbo.
Some of the dormant words date back to before 1918, when "Lord of The Rings" author J.R.R. Tolkien was editor of the OED.
Once a word has earned its place in the dictionary, it is not removed, even if it drops out of use.
The following are a sample of unused words from the vault:
Burqini: a swimsuit intended to comply with Islamic standards of modesty in dress
Cankle: thick ankle
Chimping: the action or practice of immediately reviewing each shot taken using a digital camera
Chin-strap: a type of beard, shaped in a narrow strip along the jawline
Clickjacking: the use of hidden buttons on a website to trick users into performing actions they do not intend, such as revealing personal information or switching on webcams
Faboosh: fabulous
Flashpacking: luxurious backpacking
Glamping: glamorous camping
Tanorexia: an obsession with getting a tan
Twetiquette: Twitter etiquette"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100809/lf_nm_life/us_language_english_oxford

And here's a sample of the "mindset" of the current entering college class in the US:

Mindset List for the Class of 2014

Most students entering college for the first time this fall�the Class of 2014�were born in 1992.
For these students, Benny Hill, Sam Kinison, Sam Walton, Bert Parks and Tony Perkins have always been dead.

1. Few in the class know how to write in cursive.

2. Email is just too slow, and they seldom if ever use snail mail.

3. �Go West, Young College Grad� has always implied �and don�t stop until you get to Asia�and learn Chinese along the way.�

4. Al Gore has always been animated.

5. Los Angelenos have always been trying to get along.

6. Buffy has always been meeting her obligations to hunt down Lothos and the other blood-suckers at Hemery High.

7. �Caramel macchiato� and �venti half-caf vanilla latte� have always been street corner lingo.

8. With increasing numbers of ramps, Braille signs, and handicapped parking spaces, the world has always been trying harder to accommodate people with disabilities.

9. Had it remained operational, the villainous computer HAL could be their college classmate this fall, but they have a better chance of running into Miley Cyrus�s folks on Parents� Weekend.

10. Entering college this fall in a country where a quarter of young people under 18 have at least one immigrant parent, they aren't afraid of immigration...unless it involves "real" aliens from another planet.

11. John McEnroe has never played professional tennis.

12. Clint Eastwood is better known as a sensitive director than as Dirty Harry.

13. Parents and teachers feared that Beavis and Butt-head might be the voice of a lost generation.

14. Doctor Kevorkian has never been licensed to practice medicine.

15. Colorful lapel ribbons have always been worn to indicate support for a cause.

for the rest (and for other years' mindsets, going back to the class of 2002) please use the link below:

http://www.beloit.edu/mindset/2014.php

Regards,
John

[Guy Courchesne]

Interesting...I wonder if words are dropped as well as added.

Bennifer for example, was big once but has since vanished.

[johnslat]

Dear Guy,

"Once a word has earned its place in the dictionary, it is not removed, even if it drops out of use. "

Kind of like teachers getting tenure.

Regards,
John

[Sashadroogie]

Tenure? Tenure? What is this strange new word?

[johnslat]

Dear Sasha,

Pay no attention to that makey-uppy word. It's not something you're ever likely to encounter.

Regards,
John

[Sashadroogie]

But have you, Johnslat?

[johnslat]

Dear Sasha,

Nope - neither professionally or personally.

Professionally, I've gone from year-to-year, but it's worked for me. And right now, I go from semester-to-semester at Santa Fe Community College.
But the fall semester looks good: three ESL classes and the possibility of another in "Developmental Studies."

Personally, well, not much tenure in my relationships. I'm now on marriage number three (and also had one fairly long-term "significant other" consociation.) However, our sixth anniversary in coming up in a couple of weeks, so I'm beginning to think that I may have achieved wedded tenure.

Regards,
John