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"Jeggings," "sexting," and other fake words are now in the Oxford English Dictionary
By Jessica GentileAugust 18th, 2011, 8:33 pmComments (6)
Over four-hundred new words have just wormed their way into the latest edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary. And by "words", we mean "annoyingly modern phenomena that were non-existent as of a couple years ago." The biggest offender is sure to inspire facepalms from English majors worldwide: those spandex-y legging-jean hybrids known as "jeggings." "Sexting," "cyberbullying," and "mankini" (Borat would be so proud) follow as close seconds.
So how can next year's entries possibly top this cloying bunch? I guess we'll have to get to work engineering hideous articles of clothing ASAP to find out.
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Sexting
Commentarium (6 Comments)
"It came out of my mouth, didn't it?"
damn the jersey shoring of our language.
It drives me crazy that so many people think that when words are included in a dictionary it somehow makes them "official" or "correct." A dictionary is a tool for people who need to make sense of what they are reading or hearing, and its job is to record the words people actually are using; it doesn't somehow validate them. Getting upset about words included in the dictionary is like getting upset that the Trail of Tears is included in history books--just because it is horrible and you don't like doesn't mean it shouldn't be recorded.
You are correct, if a little dire. The OED didn't make these words, we did.