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03/28/2024 10:40:10 pm

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Adorbs! Teen Talk Now Part of Oxford Dictionary

Oxford

(Photo : www.digitaltrends.com)

Yolo isn't just being tweeted or printed on t-shirts anymore - it's now officially part of the Oxford dictionary. 

Yolo, or the acronym of "You Only Live Once", is one of the many colloquial words that has been added to OxfordDictionaries.com during its latest quarterly update.

Other words that have been added include adorbs (shortened version of "adorable"), neckbeard (a derogatory adjective for nerdy individuals who don neck hair instead of facial hair), binge-watch (a term that sprung about due to the proliferation of TV box sets; means to watch a whole series in one sitting), listicle (an amalgamation of "list" and "article") and amazeballs (means absolutely amazing).

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The addition of the new words are reflective of today's culture and the linguistic evolution of the English language.

The new words are also indicators of the world's dependence on technology and tendencies for text-speak. Tech-related words such as clickbait (link/content online that is made to be provocative so that people will click on it and read), "live-tweet" (posting on Twitter while an event is occuring) and tech-savvy (one who is proficient in using gadgets) were added to the Oxford dictionary as well.

The basis of adding these new words and phrases to the dictionary is their widespread usage in the English-speaking community. Data regarding the words is gathered from several independent sources.

Oxford Dictionaries editor Katherine Connor Martin shared, "One of the advantages of our unique language monitoring program is that it enables us to explore how English language evolves differently across the world.

However, usage of the new words can vary from country to country.

Martin shared some examples where the new words were used. In two monitoring samples, Martin revealed that they discovered that "side boob" (sideview of a woman's breast) is ten times more common in the United Kingdom than in the United States, while adorbs is four times more common in the US than the UK.

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