LOL (Laughing Out Loud)
OMG (Oh My God)
BFF (Best Friends Forever)
If they're going to add those, why not ROFL (Rolling on the Floor Laughing) which I've seen countless times?
Art, who is an electrical engineer took issue with the addition of WAG (Wives and Girlfriends). He said WAG is an old engineering term they used for Wild Ass Guess.
I was surprised with the addition of Muffin Top. It's supposed to be that roll of fat over our waist band. OK. I guess it does look rather like that even though I keep trying to pull my waist band over that bundle of fat. Sheesh! (I blame the muffin top problem on the current fashion of having the waist band below your navel! It just forces all that fat over the brim. I need a girdle.)
Then they've got ♥ (heart) to be used as a verb as in "I ♥ Hawaii".
I'll bet those of you Down Under would like this one that I got from the Oxford English Dictionary website:
"The OED aims to cover lexical developments from throughout the English-speaking world. In this update, a few new items from Australian English enter the dictionary for the first time: flat white n., a style of espresso drink with finely textured foamed milk; tragic n., a ‘boring or socially inept person, esp. one with an obsessive interest or hobby’; and yidaki n., an Australian Aboriginal term for the musical instrument better known in English as a didgeridoo."
So who came up with didgeridoo? I thought that was the Aboriginal term.
Hmmmm... interesting...
I looked up "Aloha." Apparently Aloha made the Oxford English Dictionary in 2008.
"Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
aloha /əˈləʊhə/
▶exclamation & noun
a Hawaiian word used when greeting or parting.
– origin C19: from Maori aroha ‘love, affection, pity’."
As a matter of fact, when we were in New Zealand I did discuss the similarities in the Hawaiian and Maori languages with our docent, but that would be a topic for another post.
Who even buys a paper bound dictionary now days. If this is the best that Oxford English Dictionary can do to stay relevant, well, it's a start from becoming extinct.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Kay!
ReplyDeleteYour mother might be interested in my post about Operation Todomachi, which is the name of the US military relief effort in Sendai and Fukushima.
sorry: TOMODACHI
ReplyDeleteYes. It is nice to know the origin of words.
ReplyDeleteInteresting what has made the dictionary as official. Wonder if when they are no longer used and are passe' if they will remove them.
ReplyDeleteReally interesting that countries so very far apart geographically could have similar languages. Looking forward to that post.
I just love these linguistic discussions!!!
ReplyDeleteThis really shows that language is a living thing. I also wonder why LOL made it and ROFL didn't. Very interesting post, and I also love word play.
ReplyDeleteinteresting post-thanks for keeping us up to date...
ReplyDeletemost interesting info Kay, wow, can't believe LOL, etc. made the dictionary. Those Australian words are neat.
ReplyDeleteKay;
ReplyDeleteAmazing!
I can just see my English Major Grandmother shaking her head! :)
I'm kind of surprised these words or abbreviations made the dictionary! Have a great day :)!
ReplyDeleteHi - I can't believe the OED did this, LOL.
ReplyDeleteHope all is well with you and your family.
We're having a wonderful time in Paris, wish you were here - Art could have climbed the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe with Dick. O well, Dick did them both, without my help.
Will try to keep in touch as we wander around Europe.
Luv, K and Dick
I found a word that caused me to laugh myself silly: pooterism. It means bragging about how some famous person told you how great you were!
ReplyDeleteI saw this list in the paper this weekend and was greatly interested in it. In fact, we will be using it as a lesson in the class I teach.
ReplyDeleteI was most surprised by the I <3 (heart) Hawaii or whatever else you want to 'love' addition. We have been teaching how icons have meaning to today's students for quite some time in the English teacher world. I wonder if we are going somewhat backwards. Will icons slowly replace words just as words replaced icons?
fun post!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Sendai updates, Kay
Aloha to you
from town side
Comfort Spiral
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Interesting how a language de velops under the influence of other cultures. What do you think of "asap" and "bil" or "sil" ? Words I had to figure out by means of Google. The computer introduced a lot of new words in my language, most of them derived from English. The other word for digeridoo is one I used for the letter Y .
ReplyDeleteWell we have to keep up with the changes in our languages, I think. Lol.
Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteSo do you pronounce the heart as love or heart?
Thanks Kay, it is always interesting to know the meaning of different words.
ReplyDeleteDina: Gosh... I'm not sure about the heart. I'm thinking it would be "love," but I don't know for sure.
ReplyDeleteWil: I should think asap would already be in the dictionary, don't you think? That's such an important one and everybody uses it. I agree that bil and sil was a new one for me.