‘Twittering’, ‘hmm’, and ‘heh’ make it to Collins English Dictionary
By ANIMonday, August 31, 2009
LONDON - ‘Twittering’, ‘hmm’, and ‘heh’ are among the 267 words that have been added to this year’s Collins English Dictionary, all thanks to teenagers who use such words on social networking websites.
With teenagers increasingly using these grunts and sighs in words on Twitter and other such websites, the need to find spellings for sounds that were traditionally used only in speech has also spawned “meh” (an expression of dissatisfaction) and “mwah” (the sound of a noisy kiss).
Users of social networking sites may also be responsible for the resurgence of “heigh-ho” or “hey-ho” - an exclamation of weariness, disappointment, surprise or happiness - that went out of fashion in the early 20th century.
In fact, Twitter-the microblogging site that allows people to communicate in messages of 140 characters or less-has also been accepted as a verb by the dictionary to describe the act of using Twitter.
Other internet-derived terms include “noob” (short for newbie, a term for someone unfamiliar with web etiquette) and “woot” (an expression of joy conveying a sense of achievement).
New abbreviations used for convenience in text messages such as “OMG” (short for “oh, my God”) “soz” (short for sorry) and wtf (short for “what the f***?”) are also included in the dictionary.
Some new words in the dictionary could make many traditionalists cringe in their seats-new portmanteau words purporting to describe a new trend include “staycation” (a combination of stay and vacation, meaning to take a holiday without going abroad) and “glamping” (glamorous camping).
“Buzzkillers” (someone who stops other people from enjoying themselves), and “beer o’clock” (a time considered appropriate to start drinking) may also take many traditionalists by surprise.
“English is very good at absorbing new words. [But] in three or four years a lot of these words may have fallen out of use and might well come out of the dictionary,” Times Online quoted Elaine Higgleton, the Editorial Director for Collins, as saying. (ANI)
