Merriam-Webster approves words

[Dr. Whiplash]

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - It was a ginormous year for the wordsmiths at Merriam-Webster. Along with embracing the adjective that combines "gigantic" and "enormous," the dictionary publishers also got into Bollywood, sudoku and speed dating.

But their interest in India's motion-picture industry, number puzzles and trendy ways to meet people was all meant for a higher cause: updating the company's collegiate dictionary, which goes on sale this fall with about 100 newly added words.

As always, the yearly list gives meaning to the latest lingo in pop culture, technology and current events. There's "crunk," a style of Southern rap music; the abbreviated "DVR," for digital video recorder; and "IED," shorthand for the improvised explosive devices that have become common in the war in Iraq.

If it sounds as though Merriam-Webster is dropping its buttoned-down image with too much talk of "smackdowns" (contests in entertainment wrestling) and "telenovelas" (Latin-American soap operas), consider it also is adding "gray literature" (hard-to-get written material) and "microgreen" (a shoot of a standard salad plant).

No matter how odd some of the words might seem, the dictionary editors say each has the promise of sticking around in the American vocabulary. "There will be linguistic conservatives who will turn their nose up at a word like 'ginormous,"' said John Morse, Merriam-Webster's president. "But it's become a part of our language. It's used by professional writers in mainstream publications. It clearly has staying power."

One of those naysayers is Allan Metcalf, a professor of English at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Illinois, and the executive secretary of the American Dialect Society. "A new word that stands out and is ostentatious is going to sink like a lead balloon," he said. "It might enjoy a fringe existence."

But Merriam-Webster traces ginormous back to 1948, when it appeared in a British dictionary of military slang. And in the past several years, its use has become, well, ginormous. Visitors to the dictionary publisher's Web site picked "ginormous" as their favorite word that's not in the dictionary in 2005, and Merriam-Webster editors have spotted it in countless newspaper and magazine articles since 2000.

[Zak Tyler]

updating the company's collegiate dictionary, which goes on sale this fall with about 100 newly added words.

ya know this sounds like of of those "cake" jobs. like a master beer taster

i mean come on... in the last year, all they had to do is define 100 new slang words that have been in common use thus pre-defined.

i mean with consolidation and all maybe we can combine these 2 professions. the "master beer taster dictionary updater" guy.

[jag]

Yeah, Zak, but remember that these lexicographers also determine what words will be removed from its dictionaries, too. Sort of like the guy who determines the playlist at a station (albeit with a much more colorful selection).

[Zak Tyler]

Yeah, Zak, but remember that these lexicographers also determine what words will be removed from its dictionaries, too. Sort of like the guy who determines the playlist at a station (albeit with a much more colorful selection).

that could be pretty sweet too. you could like get pissed at somebody and then take out their favorite word. now THAT"S power... lol

[David Paleg]

Too bad there haven't been any new Sniglet dictionaries lately.

[Lester]

Too bad there haven't been any new Sniglet dictionaries lately.

Which is where I am sure Arp got his name from.