Language is always evolving, and as such the things we consider to be ‘real words’ change too. On that note, Oxford Dictionaries is announcing the addition of 1,000 new entries to its OxfordDictionaries.com website, the largest quarterly addition it’s ever made.
Among the newcomers are choice internet slang for Instagram users like lolcat, duck face and man crush. Gamers get their spotlight with the additions of reswpan and permadeath. Then there are other highlights like Secret Santa, ‘the ant’s pants’ and Obamacare.
It’s important to note these additions aren’t actually being added to the Oxford English Dictionary tome you might be thinking of. That book is meant to be a historical record covering the ‘core’ words of the English language. For its website, the group instead collects examples from about 150 million words from various souces.
For instance, duck face usage is up 35% this year versus the previous. Earlier this year, Oxford Dictionaries added wonderful terms like humblebrag, listicle, and YOLO.
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