"Meh" Enters Collins English Dictionary

Jared Rea

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Aug 11, 2008
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"Meh" Enters Collins English Dictionary

Another perfectly cromulent word embiggens the English language.

It started with "D'oh" and now Matt Groening and co. have managed to land yet another one of their made-up words into the English dictionary. In an open call for new words for the 30th anniversary edition of Collins English Dictionary, the apathetic expression "meh" [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/17/meh/] defeated the likes of "jargonaut" and "huggles" to earn a place in the book.

Collins asked that people submit words they use in conversations but are not yet in the dictionary. The word "meh," which was initially featured in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons, rose to prominence early in the internet age as the simplest way to convey indifference or boredom where it is, at times, difficult to judge the emotion of a fellow online user.

"Internet and email are playing a big part in formalising the spellings of vocal interjections like these," explains Cormac McKeown, Collins Dictionaries head of content. "Other examples would be hmm and heh, which are both now ubiquitous online and in emails. People are increasingly writing in a register somewhere in between spoken and written English."

Is it only a matter of time before the nefarious and universally appalling "txt speak" makes its way into our lexicon? Should that day come, at the very least, there will be nothing stopping "Kwyjibo" from becoming a legitimate Scrabble word.

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Conqueror Kenny

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ckeymel said:
Aww I love the term 'huggles' - it makes life better!
I always liked 'Huggies' better.
Now I just have to introduce the word zeyzozxgono and I will be racking up the scrabble points!
 

dekkarax

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conqueror Kenny said:
ckeymel said:
Aww I love the term 'huggles' - it makes life better!
I always liked 'Huggies' better.
Now I just have to introduce the word zeyzozxgono and I will be racking up the scrabble points!
There's only one z in scrabble...
 

skribb

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Sep 3, 2008
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It does indeed. I'm not even from an English speaking country and I used "meh" way back in childhood (with the same meaning that is).
 

Susan Arendt

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Jan 9, 2007
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But is "feh" in the dictionary? I use that far more than "meh." (Which is not to be confused with "mah", which indicates ownership.)
 

Aardvark Soup

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Jul 22, 2008
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In the Netherlands we have got mwah, which is basically the same. I'm not sure if it is included in dictionaries though.
 

Doug

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Apr 23, 2008
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Hoorah! Free mehs for all! ;) Actually, I like this. Tis good to document new words.
 

zoozilla

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Dec 3, 2007
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On behalf of "meh", I'd like to thank all the people who made this possible, and allowed "meh" to become a prominent part of daily conversation.

CNN, Fox News, The Simpsons, televangelists around the world, boring English teachers, George Lucas, Paris Hilton, Konami, audiophiles, raccoon-hunting enthusiasts...
 

Blixt

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Nov 20, 2008
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Lance Icarus said:
Oh I'm so looking forward to using this in an upcoming essay.
My English teacher will shit bricks. But in all seriousness, it worries me how the standard of languages is slowly declining into a state of worserness and worserness.......
 

GothmogII

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Apr 6, 2008
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Blixt said:
Lance Icarus said:
Oh I'm so looking forward to using this in an upcoming essay.
My English teacher will shit bricks. But in all seriousness, it worries me how the standard of languages is slowly declining into a state of worserness and worserness.......
New words is bad? That's unpossible!