[caption id=”attachment_138508″ align=”aligncenter” width=”3560″] In this Aug. 25, 2013 file photo, Miley Cyrus performs a move known as “twerking” at the MTV Video Music Awards at the Barclays Center in New York. Twerking may be older than you think. The provocative dance that gained global fame thanks to an attention-grabbing performance by Miley Cyrus has been admitted to the venerable Oxford English Dictionary _ and lexicographers say its origins go back almost 200 years. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes, Invision, File)
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If its newly entered words are any indication, the dictionary and its users are only getting more intelligent with each passing year.
This year over 500 words found their way into the Oxford English Dictionary, and suddenly it’s grammatically correct to say “twitterati” and “fo’shizzle.”
The Guardian reported that for a word to qualify, it must have been have been in popular use for at least 10 years in novels and newspapers.
Many of the words come from pop culture and common slang. One of the most notable entries is “twerk,” which the dictionary defines as “in a sexually provocative manner, using thrusting movements of the bottom and hips while in a low, squatting stance.” Thanks a lot, Miley.
There are some highly sophisticated entries as well. Words like “meh,” “voluntourism,” and “freegan” topped that list.
“Freegan”, it turns out, is the word for a person who eats other people’s leftovers from the trash for ecological or ethical reasons. Tell someone you’re going “freegan” and you’ll be sure to make friends fast.
A few more commonly used terms like “vape” and “e-cigarette” have made their way in as well, showing that at least some new words resemble, well, words.
