You Can Now Find "Woot" in a Dictionary
- Thread starter Brian Albert
- Start date
Every new word started off as a slang word. Then, if more and more people started to use it, it became common, and after a few years or maybe a generation, it became part of the language.Brian Albert said:You Can Now Find "Woot" in a Dictionary
The <a href=http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Concise-Oxford-English-Dictionary/Oxford-Dictionaries-Staff/e/9780199601080?r=1&cm_mmc=Google%20Product%20Search-_-Q000000630-_-Concise%20Oxford%20English%20Dictionary-_-9780199601080>Concise Oxford English Dictionary has officially been updated with a healthy dose of internet lingo.
Published this month, the twelfth edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary has been updated to include over 400 new words. Among them are "retweet," "woot," "noob," "cyberbullying," "sexting," and many others related to social media and internet culture. "Mankini" also made the cut, thankfully.
"Retweet that picture of me in my mankini or I'll sext and cyberbully you, noob!" is now a proper English sentence.
The dictionary has also been updated with new definitions for the words "follower" and "friend" - the latter being ridiculously diluted by a certain social network. These additions, according to the folks behind it, "are just carrying on the tradition of a dictionary that has always sought to be progressive and up to date."
It's important to note many of these words were already part of Oxford's online dictionary. The printed version in which these additional words will appear requires more time and deliberation between volumes.
So, what does this mean for you, the gamer?
If you've played Call of Duty: Black Ops for, oh, any period of time, you've certainly encountered homophobic, sexist, and racist children (and adults, too, sadly) who spit countless internet epithets your way without regard for the English language.
Well, they're still homophobic, sexist, and racist. But now, thanks to the modernization of the dictionary, many of their insults will at least constitute proper English. So there's that.
Source: Oxford Dictionaries via <a href=http://digitallife.today.com/_news/2011/08/18/7407194-retweet-woot-and-cyberbullying-added-to-dictionary?GT1=43001>Digital Life
Image
Permalink
That's how things go with languages.
If these words will stop being used then they will not be put in the new dictionaries and will disappear from the language.
Some people are really overreacting. It's just written in the dictionary, it's not like the language is ruined now. It simply has additional words.
I bet in the past, there have always been people who have reacted like many in this thread when new words had been added to the dictionary, words which are normal to us now. A language always changes, get over it.
Most people who think those words aren't worthy of being written in there, just think like that because these words are new and they haven't seen them being used anywhere else except childish situations. Just because at the moment these words are mostly used in online games and internet forums, doesn't mean that it will stay like that forever. What if in 30 years, "noob" is a common word, that's being used in everyday language?
I bet in the past, there have always been people who have reacted like many in this thread when new words had been added to the dictionary, words which are normal to us now. A language always changes, get over it.
Most people who think those words aren't worthy of being written in there, just think like that because these words are new and they haven't seen them being used anywhere else except childish situations. Just because at the moment these words are mostly used in online games and internet forums, doesn't mean that it will stay like that forever. What if in 30 years, "noob" is a common word, that's being used in everyday language?
Yes, and I have nothing against that. When a word is commonly used, it has every right to be in the dictionary.Lord Mountbatten Reborn said:
... but: [HEADING=2]Bootylicious!?[/HEADING]
No true human has ever spoken that word apart from to condemn its usage. It should not be in the dictionary.
[sub]And now I need to go take a shower because I typed it again.[/sub]
awesome in some contexts, but not so awesome in others... maybe now i can stop being my parents dictionary for these words... w00t
and what constitutes a legitimate word? And who decides? Language is not one of those things where "proper language" will change when a dictionary organization decides to update its vocab list.Randomeaninglessword said:
Language will not, and cannot be regulated, only taught.
Then... what makes a word legitimate? Being used a lot by people who wear ties and drink wine? A dictionary is supposed to reflect language, not dictate it.Randomeaninglessword said:
I'm angrier at the inclusion of cyberbullying. I'm tired of cyber- being used as a prefix to mean 'the word that follows, only through/near a computer'.
I'faith, by Iesu, Shakespeare! Art thou a maiden of six-and-ten years? They are not words. Rant? Verily? An thou'lt mouth that "word." All as next'ld be admitting accents in the French words. Example: Café.xXAsherahXx said:
... You know not the wot of English, and you fellows created the By-Our-Lady language!!
The Tale Alphabeticall should have ended once "Chair-man" was admitted. It has the hearkening of a carpenter.
Pray forgiveness for the defyance, I shall not see my language prophaned.
Languages change.
]Chamale said:
You, good sir hath procceded to obtain thy internets!
OT: Yeh, I fully agree with the fact that language changes. Did you know that the word humbug used to be as bad as c**t, now its a name of a sweet shop near where I live.
Didn't all words in teh dictionary begin as some slang term that common regular people used?
Also, when will 'teh' become an acceptable alternate spelling of 'the'?
Also, when will 'teh' become an acceptable alternate spelling of 'the'?
Adamantium rage...building! Cannot...contain...urge to kill!! [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBUISgnYpTQ&feature=player_detailpage#t=18s]
14 hours, three ice packs and an anger management session later...
RAPE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WILL YOU, I'LL KILL YOU!! I'll kill all of you, you'll get the gas!!
[The Great JT has been restrained in a mental hospital until some time has passed and this much raw stupid has had some time to blow over.]
14 hours, three ice packs and an anger management session later...
RAPE THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WILL YOU, I'LL KILL YOU!! I'll kill all of you, you'll get the gas!!
[The Great JT has been restrained in a mental hospital until some time has passed and this much raw stupid has had some time to blow over.]
Funny, I suppose there wasn't a word for small or purse in the age of Shakespeare. We still resist slang and call it unkempt, I will do the same with this.Chamale said:
Some of these words are a bit questionable... but it's nice to see dictionaries keeping up. My personal favourite addition to recent dictionaries would be Google [http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/google]. It's a verb now.
I don't really understand why all these times warrant stories. The 'dictionary' is huge and over multiple volumes. There is everything from formal to colloquial in those volumes. The purpose of the dictionary is to record language, not legitimise it. Woot and others may be in the dictionary, but it doesn't mean those words are appropriate in an academic report, in politics, at the family dinner table, or in front of your parents. So what exactly is the reason for these articles, when there aren't and weren't the same for the thousands of other slang terms already entered?