To complement the post from earlier this morning about Bill Bryson and his book, The Mother Tongue, I thought it would be fun to list some of the new words and/or definitions that were added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2009. Some of the new words or definitions are a familiar part of our lexicon such as bromance, exit strategy, flash mob, gal pal, overleveraged, staycation, unfriend, and viral. Others, were completely new to me. Below is a list of ten unfamiliar ones. Enjoy!
automagically -automatically in a way that seems magical.
cheeseball – lacking taste or style.
chillax – to calm down and relax.
cool hunter – one who predicts new styles and trends. (sorry Cabela’s shoppers)
lovacore – one primarily eats locally grown food.
matchy-matchy – excessively color coordinated.
meme – image, video, phrase passed electronically on the internet.
sheeple – unquestioning followers (combo of sheep and people). – No truth to the rumor that a picture of Glenn Beck is adjacent to the definition.
soft skills – attributes that enable someone to interact harmoniously with others.
zombie bank – an insolvent bank that survives through government support.
Rick Brown
