Merriam-Webster English Dictionary has announced the additions to its forthcoming updated dictionary, totaling to 150 new words, many of them centered around technology and stuff that would typically confuse old people if not defined in print. Bibliophiles may cringe upon reading some of the combined phrasing in “freegan” or “fangirl,” but lets instead look at this as a constructive move, a step towards giving our beloved selfies and dubstep music a place in the delicate and expansive leaves of history. Maybe now, our parents will be proud.
The following are some examples of words that will be seen in the upcoming 2014 edition as well as the proposed years in which they were first used:
catfish (n., new sense): a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes
freegan (n., 2006): an activist who scavenges for free food (as in waste receptacles at stores and restaurants) as a means of reducing consumption of resources.
gamification (n., 2010): the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (as a task) so as to encourage participation.
hashtag (n., 2008): a word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorizes the accompanying text (such as a tweet).
selfie (n., 2002): an image of oneself taken by oneself using a digital camera esp. for posting on social networks.
turducken (n., 1982): a boneless chicken stuffed into a boneless duck stuffed into a boneless turkey.
tweep (n., 2008): a person who uses the Twitter online message service to send and receive tweets.
unfriend (v., 2003): to remove (someone) from a list of designated friends on a person’s social networking Web site.
