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Heart Symbol Latest 'Word' in Oxford Dictionary

'Muffin top,' 'OMG' also added in latest OED edition

(Newser) - The latest addition to the Oxford English Dictionary is beyond words. Today’s online update to the definitive work adds a graphic symbol for the first time: a heart, as in “I heart NY.” Listed under the word “heart” and defined as a verb meaning “to...

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year: Austerity
Merriam-Webster's
Word of the Year: Austerity
best of 2010
Dec 20, 2010 6:20 AM CST

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year: Austerity

Runners-up include 'socialism,' 'bigot'

(Newser) - Austerity measures announced by governments across Europe this year sparked a surge in civil unrest, and a surge in people trying to find out exactly what the word means. Merriam-Webster says that, based on search trends, the noun—meaning "enforced or extreme economy"—is its word of 2010....

Dictionary's Vault of Rejected Words Uncovered
Dictionary's Vault
of Rejected Words Uncovered
WURFING?
Aug 6, 2010 7:02 AM CDT

Dictionary's Vault of Rejected Words Uncovered

Millions of failed words lie in Oxford room

(Newser) - Millions of words that just didn't make the cut according to the editors of the Oxford English Dictionary lie unused in a little-publicized vault owned by the Oxford University Press. The vault—whose existence was uncovered by a research student compiling a "Dictionary of Non-Words"—contains untold numbers...

School Relents: Webster Dictionary Safe for Kids

Parent worried about 'oral sex' entries

(Newser) - School authorities in Southern California's Menifee district have reversed a ban on Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary after a parent complained about its references to oral sex. A committee of parents and teachers decided the dictionaries can be returned to fourth- and fifth-grade classrooms, the LA Times reports. Concerned parents, however, can...

Webster's Word of the Year: Distracted Driving

Transportation secretary LaHood is pleased

(Newser) - Webster’s New World Dictionary has named “distracted driving” its Word of the Year, much to the delight of Ray LaHood. The transportation secretary’s crusade to ban distracted driving, which generally refers to talking on the phone or texting while behind the wheel, is part of what brought...

'Fake AP Stylebook' Well Worth a Peek
'Fake AP Stylebook'
Well Worth a Peek
Twitter phenom
Dec 5, 2009 12:51 PM CST

'Fake AP Stylebook' Well Worth a Peek

It pokes fun at language rulebooks and grammar dictators

(Newser) - It's not the likeliest of Internet sensations, but the Fake AP Stylebook on Twitter is well worth the buzz it's getting, writes Mark Peters. Anyone who's been tormented by such rulebooks on language, or by sanctimonious grammarians, will rejoice. And laugh. Typical rule: "When referring to someone with a...

Latest Facebook Star: 2009 Word of the Year

'Unfriend' beats 'sexting' and 'birther,' gets call from dictionary

(Newser) - In a move sure to get English majors talking, the New Oxford American Dictionary has crowned “unfriend” as its Word of the Year for 2009. And yes, the verb means exactly what you think it means: "To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site...

Google Is Top Online Dictionary, But in Weak Field

Lack of sensical example sentences even in OED flummoxes Angwin

(Newser) - Nowadays, Google is just about as good a reference as the Oxford English Dictionary—or better, Julia Angwin writes in the Wall Street Journal. Type in a misspelled word, and the search engine corrects it. What’s more, Google will display a trove of up-to-date articles using the word, something...

E For Embargo, F For Fidel: Castro Dictionary Published

(Newser) - Fidel Castro usually likes to express his political views in rambling essays and hours-long speeches, but a new book now breaks down El Comandante's philosophy into a handy-dandy A-to-Z format. The Castro dictionary, containing entries such as "Unemployment" and "History," is targeted at Cuban academics, reports AP....

Webster's New Words: Frenemy, Staycation

(Newser) - Merriam-Webster will make 100 additions to its Collegiate dictionary this year, and many may sound familiar, the AP reports. “These are not new words in the language, by any means,” said the publisher. An expert elaborates: They've “been around for a while but for some reason they...

Pungle, Nebby, Oh My! Folksism Dictionary Is Almost Done

Experts fear Twitter's effect on local lingo

(Newser) - Do you know what a “mumble squibble” is? How about a “elbedritsch”? When the final volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English comes out next year, a decades-in-the-making collection of odd vernacular from across the country will be complete at last, NPR reports. "It's very...

'Zzz' Spells Discontent for Scrabble Enthusiasts

Some game fans lobby for rules change

(Newser) - If you sigh in resignation every time you pull a Z or Q out of the Scrabble letter bag, new additions to the game’s official word list probably have you sighing in relief. But aficionados say the expanding list—now including “za,” “qi,” and “...

Web Dictionary Plans to Outdo Print Cousins

New features and bigger capacity make Wordnik a revolution in lexicography

(Newser) - Ever stumbled across an unfamiliar word and wondered not only what it means, but what it looks and sounds like? Or what other words it appears alongside most often, and how many times it’s been used in print this year? The revolutionary new dictionary Wordnik, set to go online...

Discomgollifusticated? Check This Dictionary of Vernacular

(Newser) - The Dictionary of American Regional English, a 40-year lexicographical labor of love, will be competed next year, Good reports—with compilers finally making it to Z. The tome, which revels in local disparities, has been a boon not only to word lovers; it helped bring down the Unabomber through his...

Meh, Add It to the Dictionary
Meh, Add It to the Dictionary
Nov 17, 2008 10:07 AM CST

Meh, Add It to the Dictionary

Simpsons' fave word and signal of apathy makes it into next edition of Collins

(Newser) - The 30th-anniversary edition of the authoritative Collins English Dictionary will include a new entry suggested by readers: the interjection "meh." An expression of indifference or boredom, it’s believed to have originated in North America. Its spelling was codified on an episode of The Simpsons, the Telegraph reports,...

Dictionary Gives Rare Words One Last Chance

Apodiectic use could save niddering and oppugnant

(Newser) - The Collins English Dictionary is giving rarely used words a last chance before they are dumped from the new edition, Time reports. Language lovers were outraged at plans to  exuviate (shed) words like oppugnant (combative), so the editors have made public a list of 24 candidates for deletion. If the...

Eat, Drink, Be Merry With Dictionary's Newest Adds

Invite a 'pescatarian' to your 'infinity pool'

(Newser) - The Merriam-Webster dictionary has added nearly 100 new words based on frequency of use in the American lexicon, the AP reports. "If somebody is using it to convey a specific idea and that idea is successfully conveyed in that word, it's ready to go in the dictionary," said...

Grammatical Dynamic Duo Wages War on Typos

Two men travel the country on a mission

(Newser) - Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson are out-of-work Ivy Leaguers on a mission. They just wrapped up a three-month cross-country drive to eradicate typos and grammar gaffes in public spaces. Sharpies in hand, the pair confronted store owners about typos on their signs and windows and did their best to correct...

Has It Gone, Or Just Gone Online?
 Has It Gone, Or
 Just Gone Online?  
OPINION
May 11, 2008 5:06 PM CDT

Has It Gone, Or Just Gone Online?

NYT columnist gets nervous as Oxford Dictionary hits the web

(Newser) - The Oxford English Dictionary—the 3-volume one with the magnifying glass—has ditched its hard copy and gone digital for good, which makes one "bookish middle-class" writer nervous. "Other totemic college books could go out of style, maybe," Virginia Heffernan writes in the New York Times. But...

New Dictionary Helps Germans Steer Clear of 'Nazi Words'

Taboo terms tainted by Third Reich

(Newser) - German words like "Endlösung" (final solution) have been tainted, likely forever, by their association with the Nazis. A new dictionary looks at how the horrors of Hitler's regime changed the German language, Der Spiegel reports. The "Dictionary of Coming to Terms With the Past" looks at how...

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