Merriam Webster Adds New Words

strandinthewind · #1 07-06-2006, 08:54 PM

Merriam-Webster unveils new dictionary entries

SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts (AP) -- Need tips on how to groom a unibrow or soul patch? Just google it. Or get a mouse potato to do it for you.

If you're still lost, grab the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary for a definition of those and about 100 other words that have made their way into its pages.

But be warned: You might come across a drama queen (a person given to often excessively emotional performances or reactions), an empty suit (an ineffectual executive) or a himbo (an attractive but vacuous man -- think "male bimbo").

"We try to have a mix that addresses the wide range of people's information needs when adding new words," said John Morse, president of the Springfield-based dictionary publisher. "It could be a technical term or some light-hearted slang that sends people to a dictionary."

To make it into the dictionary, a word has to be more than a flash-in-the-pan fad. It needs staying power.

"We need evidence that the word is showing up in publications that people are reading on an everyday basis," Morse said. Lexicographers comb through national newspapers, entertainment magazines, trade journals and Web sites in search of new words and phrases.

As has been the case during the past several years, Merriam-Webster's lexicographers have been largely preoccupied with technology and computers for its latest edition, which will be widely available at the end of the summer.

Along with defining an intensive computer user as a "mouse potato" (a popular twist on the late 1990's "couch potato" entry), they have given formal definition to one of the Internet's most recognizable names.

"Google is definitely a verb," said Dan Reynolds, a 35-year-old salesman at YES Computers in Northampton. "Google has become like a secondary brain for a lot of people. If you want quick info on something, that's what you do. You Google it."

Respectful of the trademark, Merriam-Webster lowercases the entry but maintains the capitalization while explaining that the verb means "to use the Google search engine" to retrieve online information.

"We're defining a trademark as a verb, just like we did with the word xerox," Morse said.

But don't think the folks at Merriam-Webster are just a bunch of "computer geeks" (a phrase they entered in the dictionary three years ago) -- there's a hip side to tracking words.

They're up on their "bling" as a way of describing glitzy jewelry.

And the aforementioned "soul patch" -- that small growth of beard under a man's lip that seems to fade in and out of fashion every few decades -- is certainly much cooler in Merriam-Webster's offices than the growing together of eyebrows in the often-mocked "unibrow."

The editors are also catching up with health and science issues, entering "avian influenza" and cross-referencing the virus entry with the more popular "bird flu."

Environmentalists and alternative energy fans should be heartened by the addition of "biodiesel," which is a fuel made partly with vegetable sources.

"That symbolizes to me that biodiesel is becoming a household word," said Jenna Higgins, a spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board. "You know you've arrived when you're in the dictionary."

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/07....ap/index.html

vermicious knid · #2 07-06-2006, 08:58 PM

I have never heard "mouse potato" before and I do not believe that this is a word people will ever use frequently.

David · #3 07-06-2006, 09:09 PM

Funny you post about that. I was just reading the e-mail from Vocabula in my inbox about Robert Fiske's new book, "The Dictionary of Disagreeable English," in which the author "rails against laxicographers and ding-a-linguists who, with their misguided thinking, actually promote the dissolution of the English language. He also illustrates why dictionaries don't always provide the correct meaning or usage of a word."

Naturally, Merriam-Webster takes the brunt of the criticism.

http://snipurl.com/suld

strandinthewind · #4 07-06-2006, 09:55 PM

^^^

You musy know I posted this primarily for you as you and I are the only ones who get into this shiitte

JazmenFlowers · #5 07-06-2006, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

^^^

You musy know I posted this primarily for you as you and I are the only ones who get into this shiitte

hey hey. I was an English major and words still make me a little moist (a little).

I promise to start using these words.

David · #6 07-06-2006, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

^^^

You musy know I posted this primarily for you as you and I are the only ones who get into this shiitte

You must have been reading my mind just as I was reading the e-mail from Vocabula. I just thought it was amazing to see this Merriam-Webster item from you on the ledge RIGHT when Merriam-Webster was on my mind!

We're a hell of a lot more premonitive than Stevie, strand.

David · #7 07-06-2006, 10:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JazmenFlowers

hey hey. I was an English major and words still make me a little moist (a little).

I promise to start using these words.

"chiffonhead" should be in Webster, jazzy, along with your picture by it!

carrie721 · #8 07-06-2006, 11:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

Funny you post about that. I was just reading the e-mail from Vocabula in my inbox about Robert Fiske's new book, "The Dictionary of Disagreeable English," in which the author "rails against laxicographers and ding-a-linguists who, with their misguided thinking, actually promote the dissolution of the English language. He also illustrates why dictionaries don't always provide the correct meaning or usage of a word."

Naturally, Merriam-Webster takes the brunt of the criticism.

http://snipurl.com/suld

Damn prescriptivists. Question posed to anyone: where do you stand on the prescriptivist vs. desctriptivist debate?

JazmenFlowers · #9 07-07-2006, 08:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

"chiffonhead" should be in Webster, jazzy, along with your picture by it!

you know...I must say I agree.

David · #10 07-07-2006, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by carrie721

Damn prescriptivists. Question posed to anyone: where do you stand on the prescriptivist vs. desctriptivist debate?

I'm in the prescriptivism camp because I rely on the dictionary for counsel & standards. I believe in a chimera known as Standard Written English (SWE).

cliffdweller · #11 07-07-2006, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

I'm in the prescriptivism camp

Geeze, really? I never would've guess it!

I'm usually on the other side of the camp with the sociolinguists. Prescriptivist grammarians make my teeth hurt

.

DavidMn · #12 07-07-2006, 12:56 PM

Mouse Potato is the best one of the bunch.

carrie721 · #13 07-07-2006, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David

I'm in the prescriptivism camp because I rely on the dictionary for counsel & standards. I believe in a chimera known as Standard Written English (SWE).

I straddle the line. I am a prescriptivist for the current working standard, but I also recognize that language is fluid and vital, so it can never stay the same. If it weren't, we would all still be speaking the elusive proto language that so many 19th century linguists pursued.