With the constantly evolving technological worlds of the Internet and computer games playing an ever-more integral role in the daily lives of ordinary people, it’s perhaps no longer a surprise when specific techno jargon and geek slang finds itself officially approved for inclusion within respected dictionaries.
Merriam-Webster adds various techno/geek words and terms to its dictionary. Image: Merriam-Webster.
This year, the lexicographers from Merriam-Webster have admitted in excess of 100 news words and terms to their collegiate dictionary, some of which will surely crack a smile within the technophile community while raising an inquisitive eyebrow from everyone else.
Some of the techno terms admitted via the listing for 2008 include the likes of:
Malware (malicious software specifically designed to interfere with and disrupt a computer’s normal functioning)
Pretexting (a method of presenting oneself as someone else in order to illicitly obtain private information)
Webinar (live, online educational presentation during which participating viewers can submit real-time questions and comments)
Netroots (grassroots political activists who communicate via the Internet, especially by blogs)
Fanboy (a term describing a near-fanatical devotee of comics or movies, which has most recently been adopted as a negative label within the increasingly platform-patriotic videogame community).
In explaining Merriam-Webster’s approval process for the admission of new words and terms, Peter Solokowski, an editor for the publisher, outlined in an Associated Press report that a word is selected just as soon as it is being commonly used “without explanation or translation or gloss.”
At that point it is then considered as “a naturalized citizen of the English language,” he added. “If somebody is using it to convey a specific idea and that idea is successfully conveyed in that word, it’s ready to go in the dictionary.”
Other interesting admissions to the pages of Merriam-Webster’s dictionary include: Air Quotes (think Dr. Evil), Dark Energy, Dwarf Planet, Kiteboarding, Norovirus, Prosecco, Subprime, Supercross, Texas Hold ’em, and Wing nut.
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