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Twitter, Mankini, Soz Now In The Dictionary
The British Collins English Dictionary has added these and 264 other entries to the 30th Anniversary Edition, published September 3, 2009. In order to qualify for inclusion in the highly respected collection of words, a word candidate had to have six quality citations in Collins’ digital corpus, over the past two years. Collins’ digital corpus is a computerized database that scans 2.5 billion words various print and online resources.Some members of our staff can remember when the word ain’t wasn’t in the dictionary. It was the favorite line for parents and would-be English grammarians to say to correct youngsters or others whom they believed to be less educated sounding, “Ain’t is not in the dictionary!”
It’s the 21st Century and ain’t has been in the dictionary for sometime defined as nonstandard English “a substitute for am not, is not, and are not in declarative sentences, ain’t is more common in uneducated speech than in educated, but it occurs with some frequency in the informal speech of the educated, especially in the southern and south-central states.”
We’re way past ain’t; we’ve got Twitter, soz, as well as that skimpy beach wear for men the mankini.
English our language grows and reflects the digital culture. and other interesting reported events. Here are just a few of our favorites:
Twitterverse: the social-networking site Twitter and its users
Twitter it’s a noun as in “What is all this fuss about Demi Moore’s denial of plastic surgery on Twitter?”; or it’s a verb as in “Many large corporations have hired personnel to twitter about the company’s activities.”
pseudocide: John Darwin may now be wishing he had never heard of pseudocide as he sits in his prison cell; the canoeist faked his own death to collect a massive insurance payout.
beer o’clock: We know people who’ve used this term for years. It’s the time of day when it is acceptable or customary to begin drinking your favorite alcoholic beverage.
boomburb: a large suburb experiencing rapid population growth. Naperville, Illinois qualifies as one. It’s located in two different counties!
Ponzimonium: financial turmoil in the wake of uncovering Ponzi schemes
frugalista: a person who tries to stay fashionably dressed on a budget
homo economicus: a theoretical human being who rationally calculates the costs and benefits of every action before making a decision, used as the basis for a number of economic theories and models
Example of using the terms in a sentence: “Freda is a frugalista who is dating Herman whose friends describe him as the quintessential homo economicus. They met through a personals ad in the WSJ.”
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