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850 New Words in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary

posted by mrpg on Tuesday March 13 2018, @03:51AM   Printer-friendly
from the at-least-we-don't-use-kanjis dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for Bytram

The language doesn't take a vacation, and neither does the dictionary. The words we use are constantly changing in big ways and small, and we're here to record those changes. Each word has taken its own path in its own time to become part of our language—to be used frequently enough by some in order to be placed in a reference for all. If you're likely to encounter a word in the wild, whether in the news, a restaurant menu, a tech update, or a Twitter meme, that word belongs in the dictionary.

[...] In recent years, the richest source of these newly adopted foreign-language words has been the world of food-or, perhaps we should say: the food of the world.

[...] The sometimes perplexing domain of digital financial exchanges opens a window into a subject that requires explanation for many of us, hence the detailed definition of cryptocurrency

[...] Health care, both physical and psychological, gives us many new words as well. Neoadjuvant refers to treatment for a disease or condition that is administered before the primary treatment in order to improve the likelihood of a successful outcome

Source: The Dictionary Just Got a Whole Lot Bigger (archive, because "adblocker" is not their favorite word)

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @04:31AM (4 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 13 2018, @04:31AM (#651680) Journal

    Descriptivists that see language as a fluid organism... and Prescriptivists that believe there is one proper way to write and speak English, and any deviation is wrong

    No matter what you do, English will always evolve into something that is wrong... terrible illogical, unnecessary complicated and wrong.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @04:43AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @04:43AM (#651683)

    Wrong is Right and Winning is Tiresome.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:42AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 13 2018, @05:42AM (#651695)

      Wrong is Right and Winning is Tiresome.

      You forgot "and Alt-right is wrong".

  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday March 13 2018, @07:52PM (1 child)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 13 2018, @07:52PM (#651960) Journal

    Shirley, you don't suppose the English language must have evolved from something prior?

    If it sprang into persistence over knight, then why wasn't it patented?

    --
    The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday March 13 2018, @10:43PM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday March 13 2018, @10:43PM (#652032) Journal

      So happened with many other languages, who adopted a sane spelling (and a smaller number of irregular verbs)

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford