Mamil, (middle-aged man in Lycra), silvertail (a person who is socially prominent or who displays social aspirations) and crony capitalism are among the 1,000 new words to be added to OxfordDictionaries.com, the free online dictionary, in its largest ever quarterly update.
The entries by editors at Oxford Dictionaries reflect the influence of popular culture, or teenspeak, and include abbreviations such as WTAF (what the actual fuck), lolcat (a picture of a cat with a humorous caption), IDC (I don’t care) and PMSL (pissing myself laughing). Words from gaming terminology include respawn (a character in a video game who reappears after dying) and permadeath (one who does not reappear).
OxfordDictionaries.com has extended its coverage of Australian English terms, a particularly rich source of slang. In addition to silvertail, there is shiny bum (office worker), ant’s pants (an outstandingly good person or thing), and sticker licker (an issuer of parking fines). “One of the special projects is more coverage of Australian words,” said Angus Stevenson, head of content development at Oxford Dictionaries. “We will put in a lot of Australian vocabulary over the next year, it’s so brilliant and lively.”
International cuisine – particularly Italian and Hispanic food – provides several debuts: arancini (stuffed balls of rice); cappellacci (stuffed hat-shaped pasta); carne asada (Mexican marinated beef typically served in strips or as a filling); and guanciale (a type of Italian cured pork).
Finance and business have contributed several entries such as algorithmic trading (automated stock exchange trading by computers); challenger bank (a relatively small retail bank competing with big lenders); and misery index (an informal measure of an economy generated by adding together its rates of inflation and unemployment); and network marketing (another term for pyramid selling).
New words, senses and phrases are added to OxfordDictionaries.com once editors have gathered enough independent evidence to be confident that they are in wide use. Each month, Oxford Dictionaries collects examples of about 150m words in use from sources around the world, adding them to its corpus. The editors use this database to track and verify new and emerging word trends.
“One of the benefits of our unique language monitoring programme is that it enables us to track in detail how English language evolves over relatively short periods of time,” said Judy Pearsall, editorial director for Oxford Dictionaries. “For instance, in this age of the selfie perhaps it’s no surprise that average monthly usage of the term duck face (an exaggerated pouting expression typically made while posing for a photograph) is 35% higher in 2014 than it was last year.”
OxfordDictionaries.com focuses on current English and includes modern meanings of words and associated usage examples; while the Oxford English Dictionary is a historical dictionary and forms a record of all the core words and meanings in English spanning more than 1,000 years, from old English to the present day, including many obsolete and historical terms.
Full list
al desko, adv. & adj.: while working at one’s desk in an office (with reference to the consumption of food or meals)
algorithmic trading, n.: automated Stock Exchange trading by computers which are programmed to take certain actions in response to varying market data
arancini, pl. n.: an Italian dish consisting of small balls of rice stuffed with a savoury filling, coated in breadcrumbs and fried
cappellacci, pl. n.: pieces of pasta stuffed with a filling of pumpkin (or other squash) and cheese and folded so as to resemble a hat
carne asada, n.: (in Mexican cooking) beef that has been marinated and grilled, typically served sliced in thin strips as a main course or as a filling in tacos, burritos, etc.
challenger bank, n.: (Brit.) a relatively small retail bank set up with the intention of competing for business with large, long-established national banks
chile con queso, n.: (in Tex-Mex cookery) a thick sauce of melted cheese seasoned with chilli peppers, typically served warm as a dip for tortilla chips
cool beans, exclam.: used to express approval or delight
crony capitalism, n.: (derogatory) an economic system characterised by close, mutually advantageous relationships between business leaders and government officials
digital footprint, n.: the information about a particular person that exists on the internet as a result of their online activity
duck face, n.: (informal) an exaggerated pouting expression in which the lips are thrust outwards, typically made by a person posing for a photograph
economic man, n.: a hypothetical person who behaves in exact accordance with their rational self-interest
five-second rule, n.: (humorous) a notional rule stating that food which has been dropped on the ground will still be uncontaminated with bacteria and therefore safe to eat if it is retrieved within five seconds
flash crash, n.: (Stock Exchange, informal) an extremely rapid decline in the price of one or more commodities or securities, typically one caused by automated trading
fone, n.: (informal) a phone
fresh-air fiend, n.: (Brit. informal) a person who is very keen on outdoor activities and (when indoors) on ventilated rooms
guanciale, n.: a type of Italian cured pork made from the cheeks of a pig
hawt, adj.: (chiefly US) informal spelling of ‘hot’
IDC, abbrev.: (informal) I don’t care
ish, n.: (US informal) used as a euphemism for ‘shit’
jel, adj.: (informal, chiefly Brit.) jealous
lolcat, n.: (on the internet) a photograph of a cat accompanied by a humorous caption written typically in a misspelled and grammatically incorrect version of English
mahoosive, adj.: (Brit. informal) exceptionally big; huge
Mamil, n.: (Brit. informal) acronym: middle-aged man in Lycra. A middle-aged man who is a very keen road cyclist, typically one who rides an expensive bike and wears the type of clothing associated with professional cyclists
man crush, n.: (informal) an intense and typically non-sexual liking or admiration felt by one man for another; a man who is the object of another’s intense liking or admiration
Marmite, n.: used in reference to something that tends to arouse strongly positive or negative reactions rather than indifference
misery index, n.: an informal measure of the state of an economy generated by adding together its rate of inflation and its rate of unemployment
network marketing, n.: another term for ‘pyramid selling’
Obamacare, n.: (in the US) an informal term for a federal law intended to improve access to health insurance for US citizens. The official name of the law is the Affordable Care Act or (in full) the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
permadeath, n.: (in video games) a situation in which a character cannot reappear after having been killed
PMSL, abbrev.: (vulgar slang, chiefly Brit.) pissing myself laughing (used to express great amusement)
respawn, v.: (of a character in a video game) reappear after having been killed
Secret Santa, n.: an arrangement by which a group of friends or colleagues exchange Christmas presents anonymously, each member of the group being assigned another member for whom to provide a small gift, typically costing no more than a set amount
shabby chic, n.: a style of interior decoration that uses furniture and soft furnishings that are or appear to be pleasingly old and slightly worn
shiny bum, n.: (Austral./NZ derogatory) a bureaucrat or office worker
silvertail, n.: (Austral. informal) a person who is socially prominent or who displays social aspirations
simples, exclam.: (Brit. informal) used to convey that something is very straightforward
sticker licker, n.: (Austral. informal) an official who issues parking fines
tech wreck, n.: (informal) a collapse in the price of shares in high-tech industries
the ant’s pants, n.: (Austral. informal) an outstandingly good person or thing
tiki-taka, n.: (Soccer) a style of play involving highly accurate short passing and an emphasis on retaining possession of the ball
tomoz, adv.: (Brit. informal) tomorrow
trofie, pl. n.: pasta in the form of short irregularly twisted pieces with pointed ends, traditionally eaten with pesto
WRT, abbrev.: with reference to
WTAF, abbrev.: (vulgar slang) what the actual fuck
xlnt, adj.: (informal) excellent
