Language is a beautiful, constantly evolving thing with all sorts of nuances and implications that shape the way we understand our culture and the world. That's what I'm going to use to preface telling y'all that that words like "rly," "abso-bloody-lutely," and "NBD" have been added to the Oxford Dictionaries, proving that if enough people use absurd words enough times, they'll become official parts of the English language. Woohoo!
Now, although it's worth noting that we're talking about the more informal Oxford Dictionaries here, not the slightly stuffier Oxford English Dictionary itself, all of these hilarious additions still bear some weight. Furthermore, it's not the first time colloquialisms have been made official words by being added to a dictionary. Earlier this year we saw the addition of words on Dictionary.com such as "slacktivism," "basic" (as in in a basic person), "microagression," "revenge porn," and "gender fluid." Additionally, Scrabble made some amends to its dictionary by permitting words like "ridic," "lolz," "emoji," "onesie," "twerking," cakehole" and "dench" to be played during the popular crossword game. (Take that, Mom and Dad, for trying to tell me during family game nights that I can't use acronyms!)
So what are some of the slang words we can now cherish as actual, respectable English language additions? Lets take a look at a few of my favorites; you can see more over at the Oxford Dictionaries blog.
1. Wine o'clock
Definition: An appropriate time of day for starting to drink wine.
2. Manspreading
Definition: The practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats.
3. Rando
Defintion: A person one does not know, especially one regarded as odd, suspicious, or in socially inappropriate behavior.
4. Fangirl
Definition: A female fan, especially one who is obsessive about comics, film, music, or science fiction.
5. Hangry
Definition: Bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger.
6. Awesomesauce
Definition: Extremely good; excellent. See also: Weaksauce.
7. Mic Drop
Definition: An instance of deliberately dropping or tossing aside one’s microphone at the end of a performance or speech one considers to have been particularly impressive.
8. Bants
Definition: Playfully teasing or mocking remarks exchanged with another person or group; banter.
9. Brain Fart
Definition: A temporary mental lapse or failure to reason correctly.
10. SJW
Defintion: Short for social justice warrior
Check out the full list and definitions of words here.
Images: Giphy (10)
