Merriam-Webster has added 850 new words to their dictionary this year.
"The Dictionary Just Got a Whole Lot Bigger" |
Merriam-Webster (https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/new-words-in-the-dictionary-march-2018)
QuoteThe 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.
A big batch of new words and new definitions for existing words has just been added to our dictionary at Merriam-Webster.com: 850 terms that come from a cross-section of our linguistic culture.
[Continues . . . (https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/new-words-in-the-dictionary-march-2018)]
"A Phrase For Our Time: Merriam-Webster Adds 'Dumpster Fire' To Dictionary" |
NPR (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/05/590919849/a-phrase-for-our-time-merriam-webster-adds-dumpster-fire-to-dictionary)
QuoteWhat qualifies as a dumpster fire depends on who's watching, but you tend know it when you see it (https://www.oyez.org/justices/potter_stewart).
But if forced to define it for someone not prone to hashtagging, you might quote Merriam-Webster:
QuoteDumpster fire (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dumpster%20fire) (noun, US informal): "an utterly calamitous or mismanaged situation or occurrence: disaster."
The gleefully catastrophic phrase is one of 850 new additions the online dictionary announced today.
Dumpster fire's inclusion marks a crowning moment for the treasured declaration and its oft-tweeted GIF (https://giphy.com/gifs/fire-dumpster-26FPy3QZQqGtDcrja). It's the metaphor we wouldn't want to live without — though the dictionary says the phrase's first-known usage was just ten years ago.
"If a word is frequently used enough by some people, it has to be placed into a reference for all people," Merriam-Webster editor-at-large Peter Sokolowski tells NPR. He says the word has turned up often enough in print — and on social media — to merit its inclusion.
[Continues . . . (https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/05/590919849/a-phrase-for-our-time-merriam-webster-adds-dumpster-fire-to-dictionary)]
Dumpster fire? Sounds like a perfect description of work when our newest manager runs a shift!
And so a word or phrase drifts slowly from it original and literal meaning into something entirely new, maybe sounding totally irrelevant and obscure to those to whom this is not their native tongue.
Like Brits and Americans, sharing an originally common language being increasingly split by its differences in meanings. Now definitions, which, sort of, makes it official (unless flagged as "slang," "jargon," "colloquialism" or similar.)
Well, it has happened for centuries, probably millennia, so no good reason why it should stop. Shakespeare often needs a book of interpretations to fully appreciate his use of language.
Quote from: jumbojak on March 06, 2018, 05:06:35 AM
Dumpster fire? Sounds like a perfect description of work when our newest manager runs a shift!
Or the current Administration.
Dumpster fire. :tellmemore:
I like it. It doesn't sound as trashy as it probably should.
Dumpster fire? Yes that is descriptive. Hobo stove? Also descriptive. Here are the instructions for making such a stove just in case you want to boil some water for tea or maybe cook some meth while out in the woods.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=hobo+stoves+how+to+make&docid=608015045996776436&mid=4649761C96DF28D21C564649761C96DF28D21C56&view=detail&FORM=VIREHT
I had to explain the word Hobo to my Lithuanian friend who thought the stove rather ingenious. Hobo for those of you who are not old time Americans, is a noun that describes a vagabond person who has a habit of hitching rides on freight trains.
Next word could be Bindlestiff. A synonym for Hobo. And then there is bindle......I'll leave that one to your own imagination...... There once was was an actual newspaper whose mast was Hobo News. It contained news of the exploits, travels, and adventures of its namesake individuals.