Like, OMG! I totally ♥ the OED! LOL
Last week, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added a slew of
new words to their online list, including a variety of popular
slang utterances. OMG and LOL have joined the rankings of TMI and
BFF, abbreviations that are common in electronic communication. The
OED refers to these short hand expressions as initialisms,
"abbreviations consisting of the initial letters of a name or
expression." Though popular in texts and tweets, these initialisms
have also become fairly common in verbal communication. Saying BRB
to excuse myself for a minute? Guilty.
An interesting addition to the dictionary is heart, but not the
definition of the vital organ. Heart has been added as a verb,
meaning to love as denoted by the symbol that is frequently used on
t-shirts and bumper stickers (think of the "I ♥ NY" tourism
campaign). This entry may be surprising to some, but as electronic
communication continues to rise and we begin to abbreviate
practically every other word, we should continue to expect more
slang words and initialisms in the dictionary.
Here are some other new and interesting additions to the OED
this year:
- Couch surfing
- Dot bomb
- La-la land
- Muffin top
- Rub-a-dub
- Smack talk
- Wassup
For a full list of new words and updated entries, check out the
OED's
website.