“Chuffed” Spiked in Merriam-Webster Online Searches Yesterday, Here’s Why and What it Means
Peter Sokolowski seemed pretty chuffed about it.
"Chuffed" didn't make my list of 10 Piece of British Slang I'd Like to See Adopted in America, but a lot of readers suggested it after the fact. That's why when lexicographer Peter Sokolowski pointed out that it was spiking in searches on Merriam-Webster's site it caught my attention. Why'd it spike, and what's it mean?
Read MoreMerriam-Webster Declares “Science” Its 2013 Word of the Year, We Declare Merriam-Webster Our 2013 Dictionary of the Year
Someone try to use all of the top ten words in one sentence. Ready? Go!
It's a great day for geeks of all kinds! Merriam-Webster has declared "science" as their 2013 Word of the Year, meaning word-geeks and science-geeks get to party together. While other dictionaries have been throwing around "selfie" as their trendy word of the year picks, MW knows what's important. Let's look at why they chose "science."
Read MoreA Sign of the Times: Capitalism and Socialism Are 2012’s Most Searched Words
The results are in! Merriam-Webster, after having looked at their aggregate word research data, have announced that the most looked-up words on their website for 2012 are "socialism" and "capitalism." Going by the knowledge that we're living in a tenuous economy that can go down the proverbial toilet at any given time, and the fact that they're the two most common buzzwords used by those fear-mongering talking heads on the nightly news, is it really a surprise that socialism and capitalism are the words of the year? Maybe not, but Merriam-Webster editor-at-large Peter Sokolowski has a pretty good hypothesis as to why people were eager to learn the meaning behind these feuding ideologies.
Merriam-Webster Inducts “F-bomb,” “Sexting,” “Man Cave,” and Others Into the 2012 Dictionary
It's that time of the year when people who have say over such things get to decide when words we've been using for ages become real, legitimate dictionary words. That happens more than once, actually, since there are more than one legitimate dictionary, but this time around we get to see what Merriam-Webster officially considers a word. The list of words will be included in the 2012 update of the Merrian-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, and it includes a hefty amount of casual slang, from "man cave," to "sexting," to "f-bomb." That's right, "f-bomb" is now a legitimate word, and you can drop them into messages while sexting from your man cave and Merriam-Webster will have your back if anyone calls your use of illegitimate words into question.
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