One of the endearing (and enduring) qualities of the English language is its ability to keep attuned with the zeitgeist and to absorb new words. Indeed, it is this sponge-like quality and its structural flexibility that has enabled it to become the world’s lingua franca. Tranches of new words and acronyms regularly find their way to the on-line edition of the Oxford Dictionary – no stuffy Academie Francaise to protect the purity of our mongrel tongue for us – and details of the latest batch have recently been released.
Fomo (for fear of missing out), despite some being truly vomworthy (sick-inducing), I have selected a few of the more interesting entries.
Some are simply acronyms popularised by the almost universal adoption of texting – FIL (father-in-law), MIL (mother-in-law), BIL and SIL – you get the gist, but so much quicker – BYOD (bring your own device, the 21st century equivalent of the bring your own (bottle) party) and a MOOC – a massive open on-line course, which is made available free of charge.
A number of the new entrants reflect the changes in our taste buds – blondies (a small square of dense, pale-coloured cake, typically of a butterscotch or vanilla flavour) or a cake pop (a small round piece of cake coated with icing or chocolate and fixed on the end of a stick so as to resemble a lollipop), for example. Too much of a good thing could result in a food baby (a protruding stomach caused by eating a large quantity of food and supposedly resembling that of a woman in the early stages of pregnancy).
Because of the frenetic pace of life we need to find more opportunities for me time (time relaxing on your own), perhaps by adopting the child pose (a yoga pose) or reading or watching a Nordic noir (a type of Scandinavian crime fiction and television drama that typically features dark storylines and bleak urban settings). Alternatively, you might amuse yourself and your followers by taking a selfie (a photograph of yourself) on your phablet (a smartphone which is midway in size between a phone and a tablet) or unliking something (withdrawing your approval of a web page or posting that you had previously liked). Another option is to go in for a bit of digital detoxing (spending time away from Facebook and Twitter). For those of you expecting a new addition to the family, there is always the opportunity for a babymoon (a holiday before the birth of a child). The main thing is not to be dappy (silly, disorganised or lacking concentration).
Fashion, inevitably, makes an appearance and has generated a number of blends (words joined together) like jorts (jeans and shorts), flatforms (a flat shoe with a thick, high sole) and geek chic (a style of dressing popular with computer and technology buffs).
I hope you didn’t find this post TL:DR (too long, didn’t read). If you did, apols; if you didn’t you might have found it srsly buzzworthy. Squee! (an expression of excitement).
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