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October 2006Report from the Open DictionaryEnglish speakers are constantly inventing new words, and it may take years for these words to establish themselves and get into the dictionary. In the meantime, there is Merriam-Webster's Open Dictionary, a feature on Merriam-Webster Online that allows users to submit their coinages and recent new-word discoveries. In this month's newsletter, we share some of our favorite submissions. The Open Dictionary has been a feature on Merriam-Webster for just a little more than a year, having been launched in late September of 2006. So far, the dictionary has received more than 6,000 submissions for all kinds of words, from slang to technical, playful to serious, and from fanciful coinages to words that may indeed find their way into regular dictionaries. Here are a few of our favorites: chillax verb To relax and chill out at the same time. You just need to chillax and let me handle the hard stuff. emo adjective Demonstrating an emotional attitude toward music, poetry, and other art forms; melodramatic — often used disparagingly. Hey, that guy is so emo, he threatened to kill himself. hoteling noun The practice of working in undedicated, interchangeable cubicles. At Sun Microsystems in Santa Clara, Calif., workers can pop into interchangeable cubicles, an increasingly popular option called hoteling. — Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, Time Magazine, July 17, 2006 ivory corner noun A corner office occupied by a manager who is perceived by his or her staff as being out of touch with their concerns and the business operations in general. The manager called an impromptu meeting to criticize his staff for poor performance and then retreated to his ivory corner. multislack verb To do more than one thing that does not require much thought or energy at one time. Kim was multislacking, eating chips, watching TV, and playing a game on her laptop computer all at the same time. plagueware noun Software designed to allow millions of useless spam e-mails to be easily sent in order to plague and aggravate millions of peaceful Internet users. They advertised 50 million e-mail addresses for $100 which includes the latest plagueware to easily deliver tons of spam to those addresses. skim board noun A flat board used for sliding on wet sand near the surf. The user runs and jumps on the skim board for a short thrilling ride. A lot of kids use skim boards in southern California. spoiler noun Information on a plot twist or ending of a movie, television show, or book. I googled "Project Runway," searching for spoilers about the three finalists. text verb To use text messaging via cell phone or PDA. While at the game, Abbey texted me regarding the party. Webinar noun A seminar that is hosted on the World Wide Web. Free May 24 Webinar - Solid Approach to Mortgage Portfolio Management — ABA.com (News), April 27, 2006 |