‘Hoodies’ and ‘wags’ break into English dictionary
LONDON: Hoodies, wags, carbon footprints and muffin tops have entered the English language, according to the ninth edition of the Collins English Dictionary launched on Monday.
The new arrivals provided a snapshot of the way the English language has thrown up new words to describe the modern world.
A hoodie – a perceived growing menace lurking around Britain’s shopping centres – is “a young person who wears a hooded sweatshirt, regarded by some as a potential hooligan,” according to the new dictionary.
And wags, the pampered wives and girlfriends spending their partners’ cash, take their place after a sterling performance accompanying the England football team at the 2006 World Cup.
From fashion circles, size zero slips into the dictionary, while muffin tops, the flabby bulge over the top of a tight pair of jeans, squeezes in.
Pro-ana, the belief that anorexia is a viable lifestyle choice, also makes it into the dictionary.
A growing concern about the environment is evident through the arrival of carbon footprint, carbon offsetting and season creep – the changing length of seasons thought to be caused by climate change.
The so-called war on terror makes its mark through radicalising, rendition and Londonistan, a reference to the British capital being a base for radical Islamists.
World events such as 7/7 and Beslan make it into the dictionary, and Gitmo, slang for the Guantanamo Bay US detention camp, also features.
Me-media is a term to describe personal Internet services such as MySpace, YouTube and Facebook, while man flu – a man exaggerating a cold – and plasma screen televisions are also included.
A Collins spokesperson said that many of the words “will undoubtedly sink back into obscurity being bound up with today’s ephemera, but others will take root”. The use of English is monitored for the dictionary via a 2.5 billion-word database from of websites, magazines, books, journals, newspapers and broadcast transcripts.—AFP
