Did you even know that there was a New Oxford American Dictionary? I didn't. But with their recent addition of 'unfriend' to the American language, that might soon change. Maybe this was their way of leaving the realm of obscurity... and into hilarity!"It has both currency and potential longevity," says Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford's US dictionary program. She goes on to add that it has real 'lex-appeal'. Quite. I get the nagging feeling that the senior lexicographer for the NOAD might be short and blonde and very American. Here in England, new words don't enter the language without ratification by a round-table of 12 bearded and wizened lexicographic geriatrics.
There's quite a long list of runners-up. Amongst others: hashtag (always thought this was a bit ambiguous... but perhaps that's my drug-dealing background...), sexting (don't make me explain this one), zombie bank (sadly not a L4D reference), deleb (a dead celebrity apparently). A complete list is available on the Oxford University Press blog, if you want a bit of a giggle.
I wonder why they opted for 'unfriend' rather than 'defriend'. Or maybe defriend is British-English, and unfriend is 'Merkin-English...
What other words do you think we can expect to see in the New Oxford American Dictionary in the coming years? Retweet? Bloggable? ('Weblog' is already in the NOAD!)
The power of popular culture: 'unfriend' officially enters the American language originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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