by Mary Jo

We here at Word Wenches Central Command take words very seriously, but we tend to think more about the 19th century and earlier than about the 21st century.  My Webster's Collegiate does a pretty good job of telling me when words came into general English usage, and that suffices for my writing.

But we all had fun when Wench Susan told us about new words that the Oxford Dictionary has just decided to add to the canon.  Being as how romance writers don't get out much <G>, most of us didn't know half the words.  

Some are fairly self-explanatory, like "bro hug," which presumably describes the way manly men can touch each other without looking less manly. <G>

"E-cig" and "vape" are surely here to stay, given the number of articles I've read debating A) whether they're as bad as real cigarettes, and B) okay, they're not as bad, but that doesn't mean they're GOOD.

I'd only heard of "neckbeard" quite recently on an e-advice columnist site.  Here's what the Urban Dictionary has to say:

neckbeard. 1. (n) Facial hair that does not exist on the face, but instead on the neck. Almost never well groomed. 2. (n) Derogatory term for slovenly nerdy people ...

But who knew that Henry David Thoreau was an early neckbeard adapter? At least he looks reasonably well groomed. (Photo on right.)

Some of the newly adopted words are old words with new meanings.  I learned "catfishing" on the same site where I met the neckbeard.

Once again, the Urban Dictionary was the go-to source since they're well up on slang: 

catfished
Being deceived over Facebook as the deceiver professed their romantic feelings to his/her victim, but isn't who they say they are.  Having a fake Facebook profile, images and avatar in order to lure people to have romantic feelings. They are then catfished when the victim realises the person they have fallen for via Facebook is not who they APPEAR to be.  by dottykai May 04, 2011

So in the age of the internet, there's a whole lot of cat fishin' going on!  

The word that caught my imagination most was "zonkey."  Obviously it sounds like donkey, but further clarification was needed.  Was it a zombie donkey?  A monkey that snores a lot?

Wikipedia to the rescue!

"A zonkey is a zebroid, one of a wide range of crosses between a zebra and other equine species:  

A zebroid (also zedonk, zorse, zebra mule, zonkey, and zebrule) is the offspring of any cross between a zebra and any other equine: essentially, a zebra hybrid. In most cases, the sire is a zebra stallion. Offspring of a donkey sire and zebra dam, called a zebra hinny, or donkra, do exist but are rare. Zebroids have been bred since the 19th century. Charles Darwin noted several zebra hybrids in his works.

A zorse is the offspring of a zebra stallion and a horse mare. This cross is also called a zebrula, zebrule, or zebra mule. The rarer reverse pairing is sometimes called a horbra, hebra, zebrinny or zebret. Like most other animal hybrids, the zorse is sterile."

So someone had a whole lot of fun coming up with all the terms for different types of zebroids, but it doesn't explain why zonkey made the Oxford Dictionaries this year.  Oh, well.   Maybe next year the zorse or the zebrinny will join the zonkey in Oxford.

Sadly, a word breaking into the Oxford Dictionaries doesn't automatically mean making it into the Scrabble dictionary, so Scrabble enthusiasts will have to find other uses for their' "z's."  On the plus side, the Collins English Dictionary has claimed "adorkable," a word that was surely invented for The Big Bang Theory. <G>

So--what words on that list capture your fancy?  Are there others you'd like to see added?  And is YOLO (for You Only Live Once, usually after something really stupid has been done) really one of the most annoying expressions ever?

Since next week I have a whole new collection of words under the title Not Quite a Wife being released, I'll give a copy of the book to one commenter between now and Friday night.  And that's no clickbait. <G>

Mary Jo

Comments

[Kanch]

Ever since I read A company of swans by Eva Ibbotson, I have wanted chicken-feather to become a popular entry into our everyday language.

[Kathy in FL]

Having read the list, I don't think I'll be using any of those new words any time soon!

[nancy]

Henry david Thoreau looks a bit like Lincoln.
I think that most of the ne words will be relegated to the historical dictionary soon Most of those words don't seem to affect the general population at all but are in vogue among certain groups like the Devonshire drawl of early 19th century.
I haven't come across a really descriptive word I would wish added. I am still thinking floppy disks when even DVD's are on the way out- Flash /Thumb drives and cloud storage seem to be all the rage now.
Blogging and FB, wall, and #slang, tablets, net books, note books-- help! I have no time to worry about any of the odd words just added to the dictionary.

[nancy]

My comment disappeared into cyberspace.
I don't like those new words and don't think I will ever have an opportunity to use them. They seem to me to be limited to certain groups and not have wide spread acceptance. I am still grappling with #words and liking on Face Book. I think these words will soon join floppy disks in never never land . I have so many disks and CDs and now all is going to the cloud. I can't worry about any of the new words while I try to distinguish among notebook, net book, tablet, NOne of which have a drive for loading new material. Do you understand computing in the cloud? None f the words even stayed with me long enough to write this.

[Jackie]

I find all the words very interesting. Some are hilarious. The one that catches my eye is side eye. I'm thinking that will be replacing "rolling your eyes" as it takes less effort LOL

[Samantha]

I remember when the "twerking" controversy was going around. I felt very out of it when I had to look it up what it meant online.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Kanch--

I LOVE that book, though I must say that I never envisioned chicken-feather as new dictionary entry. But it's betteh than some on the list!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Kathy--

I can't say that any of them seem likely to fill an empty hole in my vocabulary. *G*

[Mary Jo Putney]

Nancy--

I think these words must face the test-of-time check. A few may end up usable in the long term, but most--meh!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Jackie--

"side eye" definitely has potential. *G* THough tme meaning may be closer to "askance" than eyerolling. But I'm too lazy to look it up just now.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Samantha--

If it's any comfort, I had to google "twerking" also.

[Mary M.]

Urban Dictionary is a great time killer. I look up one word and half an hour later, I've gone from that word to another to another ... But. Usually by the third or fourth one, I feel like I've wandered into a swamp and give it up. This time, just reading down through the "catfishing" entry did it for me. ("Twerking," too.) But I rather like the "catfished" entry you found--just surprised it isn't "catphished," LOL.

[Shannon]

It's not a word, but the guys at work were discussing faux metrosexual hipsters. No, I don't understand, and I probably don't want to.

Somewhere, I have a copy of a dictionary called the Vulgar Tongue, which provides vulgar, crude, and profane words and definitions.

The newest term at work is ent, like the characters in Lord of the Rings. In context, yeah "Jane" is another ent at the task force. Translation: that deputy director of something to the principle mucky-muck is animated deadwood.

[Glenda]

I have to agree that YOLO and Twerking (the word and the action) need to go away. :-) I had heard of twerking prior to the controversy because I had kids in high school and college. I'm just glad my kids agree that YOLO is NOT an excuse for stupid behavior. :-)

I do love that Ent has made it into the vernacular...It seems appropriate somehow.

[Diane Sallans]

as inventions (aka new technologies) come along it makes sense that new words get coined, but it sure took a long time for 'neckbeard' to get included. There's a lot of abbreviations that seem to be popular these days - like TMI (Too Much Information) - I wonder if they will make it in the dictionary.

[Mary Jo Putney]

That's a GREAT use of Ent, Glenda! Some new words are much more appealing than others. I'm with you on YOLO and twerking.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Diane--

THis is a quote I've always loved: "The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
--James D. Nicoll

So English has the largest vocabulary of any language in the world. Some of those added words are essential and useful. Others are dreck. *G* A neckbeard might have been around in the past, but the name for it as a separate thing might be new.

[Sharon]

Neckbeard - I'd never seen this word, but I've seen a number of them on the live music channels I frequently leave on when I'm doing housework. (AXStv or Palladia)

I hear a song I like and trot down the hall to check the name of the band so I can download the song or CD, and there I'll see a fellow with what looks like spray-painted Spanish Moss hanging under his face and, in the worst cases, spreading like a bib across his chest.

Neckbeard - not an attractive look.

[Linda Manwiller]

The equine part of these new "entries" have been used in the horse world for quite a few years. In fact, I just finished an on-line course from Coursera that mentioned them!

[Vicki]

I love looking at those lists of "new" words. There is always a lot to ponder. My usual reactions are: Huh...Really...I see...and the all purpose Ooooooooookkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaayyyyyy (I'm southern, I need all those letters. :)

Most of them will never make it into my speech or writing. A few weeks back we had a conversation at a Family Dinner about "new" words coming up in conversation or on FB postings.

Some of us will ask, some will look it up, others just go...huh and move on. Then we never see it again so it means the huh and move on come out ahead, having never wasted time looking the word up.

I figure if a word makes it into the Oxford Dictionary I should review it since it means it has been around for awhile.

[Mary Jo Putney]

Linda--

Wikipedia seemed blase about all those terms. I guess the big deal is that now zonkey is in the Oxford dictionary, but the question remainss: why now???? 'Tis a mystery...

[Mary Jo Putney]

++the all purpose Ooooooooookkkkkkkkaaaaaaaaayyyyyy (I'm southern, I need all those letters. :)++

LOL! Oooohkayyy. (I'm a Yankee, I don't need as many. *G*)

IT's fun checking out the new words, but some of them don't look like they'll have much staying power!

[Mary Jo Putney]

Sharon--

Maybe the guys are too busy making music to shave properly? *G* As you say, it's not an attractive look! Has any girl ever sighed and said, "Gee, I'd like to find a boyfriend with a neckbeard?!!"