Merriam-Webster Adds More Than 840 New Words To It’s Dictionary
Merriam-Webster Dictionary will be adding more than 840 words to their online database. “Time” magazine reported this last Tuesday.
Social media and slang have impacted our language greatly over the years, so now the world can actually recognize these words as part of our everyday language officially.
Instagram was one of the first terms decided to be added. “Instagrammable” became the official adjective for “Instagram.”
Twitter was another social media platform that got some of its functions added. “Retweet” is defined:
to repost (something, such as a message) to the Twitter online message service
- Garcia snapped a pic that was retweeted more than a thousand times.
- —Lee Jenkins
- … people who use Twitter … are rewarded with social validation when their tweets areretweeted …
- —The Economist
— retweet
playˈrē-ˌtwēt noun, plural retweet.
The instant feedback—replies or retweets, the Twitter equivalent of applause—is intoxicating, like a pleasure-center reward for a lab rat pulling a lever. —James Poniewozik – Courtesy of Merriam-Webster
Merriam-Webster shared this statement on their website:
It’s important to remember that new words are added to the dictionary only when they have already been used by many people—often initially by specialists or subcultures. Then, gradually, a word’s use spreads to the rest of us. Every word moves at its own pace; there is no average speed for a word’s acceptance into the language, the culture, and the dictionary. The dictionary’s job is to report that usage as it enters the general vocabulary. For each reader, some of the new words inevitably seem already familiar, but others will be encountered for the first time in an announcement like this—which probably means we’re doing it just about right. – Merriam-Webster
Other slang that has been included are, Latinx, hangry, TL;DR, biohacking, bougie, bingeable, and marg.
Now millennials, go and run and tell your parents and grandparents that the slang is now official!
