Talk about a never-ending job! Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (Eleventh Edition) recently added some new words, chosen among submissions from readers for their favourite word not in the dictionary.
Sadly, one of the top choices was “ginormous” (officially defined as “extremely large: humongous”) and not one of my faves. I was interested to see among the new listings “gray literature” (written material that is not published commercially) and “nocebo” (a harmless substance that is associated with harmful effects — kind of the evil twin of placebo).
One thing I liked about the M-W listing was that each word linked to the official definition, unlike the recent release of new words for the Oxford English Dictionary. One of my faves among the Oxford newbies is propeller-head, for which I had to use Google to confirm that it essentially means a geek, but usually in a respectful way.
It’s certainly interesting to watch the English language evolve. I wonder what people will vote for as their favourite words not in the dictionary in 2007?
