Struck by a novovirus: dictionary swells up
Published 07 July, 2008, 13:58
Merriam-Webster’s latest English dictionary should clear up some mondegreens, or sharpen the tongues of netroot wing nuts. It means air quotes are no longer necessary when talking about a mental health day or your kiteboarding trip.
Over a hundred new words have wound up in the 2008 update to the dictionary.
It lifts the veil on many words that are the preserve of connoisseurs and gourmands, and you are unlikely to hear in your corner shop anytime soon. Pescatarians, who, in case you didn’t know, are vegetarians whose diet includes fish, can order their phytonutrient-packed edamame (immature green soybeans) with confidence, and wash the meal down with some prosecco (a dry Italian sparkling wine). The more adventurous might plumb for soju, a Korean vodka distilled from rice.
Many, like Texas Hold ‘em poker, supercross motorcycle racing or dark energy, will be familiar to most people from recent movies and magazines, even if they don’t know precisely what they mean.
Terms such as novovirus or dwarf planet, are beginning to make an appearance outside universities and research labs.
Quite a few new additions to the dictionary have been years gathering steam – like ‘dirty bomb’, meaning a conventional bomb containing radioactive material, which first appeared in 1956.
But others, like the headline-dominating ‘subprime’ are now undoubtedly standard fare for anybody that hasn’t been living in a cave for the past year, and have been rushed into the latest edition.
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