Did you know that on average there are one
thousand new words added to the English online dictionaries each year? Yes one
thousand; that is a load of new words every year isn’t it? Well this week we
have seen some more added, and I wanted to share some of my favourites with
you.
Where to begin? Well what about food baby,
yes that made it in. This is used to describe an enlarged stomach caused from
eating too much food, which is seen as resembling that of a woman in the early
stages of pregnancy. Talking of pregnancy, how about a babymoon, which is used
to describe a relaxing holiday taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born,
or can also refer to a period of time after the baby arrives when parents can
focus on establishing a bond with their new child.
A few words that have been added are abbreviations
that have now been accepted as okay to use in informal situations. These
include, apols - short for apologies, congrats for congratulations and vom, to
vomit or be sick (yuk!). Other abbreviations
include FOMO (fear of missing out), the feeling that an exciting event is
taking place and you are not invited. This feeling is often prompted by a status
on a social media site. We also have TL;DR (too long; didn’t read), which is often
used as a dismissive response to a lengthy online post, and BOYD (bring your
own device), the practise of allowing employees to use their own computers,
smart phones etc for work purposes. Another one I like is phablet, a mix of
phone and tablet used to describe oversized smartphones! If you have one of
these smartphones you may take a “selfie”, a photo one has taken of oneself and
uploaded to a social media site.
Then we can look at fashion. We now have A/W
(Autumn/Winter) and S/S (Spring/Summer) used to describe fashion collections
for these seasons. Flatform refers to a flat shoe with a high, thick sole,
whilst double denim refers to a definite fashion faux- pas such as wearing a denim
shirt over jeans or a denim skirt. I wonder how many of you are geek chic? This
describes the appearance and culture associated with computer and technology
enthusiasts, which may be seen as stylish and high fashion.
However, I have saved my favourite two new
words until the end. The first being omnishambles, meaning a situation that is
shambolic from every possible angle, that has been mismanaged and miscalculated.
This word first appeared in 2009 and was used by the writers of the BBC’s political
satire “The Thick of It”. I think you will all agree that it certainly has a
ring to it!
I will leave you with twerking, which is
dancing in a sexually provocative way, involving thrusting hip movements. This word
has been around for some time in the United States hip hop culture, but its use
has now been adopted across the board, and it has won its place in the
dictionary!
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