The lexicographers at the Oxford English Dictionary have spoken, and manspreading, Grexit, Brexit and butt dial are all now official words in English. Once a year, the hard-working staff at the OED releases a batch of new words to be added to indubitably the most well-known dictionary of the English language.
L’Acadamie francaise and other hide-bound language councils are dedicated to the purity of their mother tongue, but English has no equivalent organization as change thinly disguised as progress has long been a key cultural tenet of English-speaking peoples. The creation of new words and new usages is encouraged in English, in fact it’s really become a generational rite of passage for new terms that reflect new, evolving cultural realities to emerge from the youth subculture every few years.
Oxford English Dictionary’s new words for 2015
Check out a few of the OED’s new words for 2015 (with slightly enhanced definitions) below:
awesomesauce (adjective): extremely good; beyond excellent
bants (noun): short for banter; playful teasing or mocking remarks exchanged with another person or group
brain fart (noun): a temporary mental lapse or memory failure
Brexit (noun): a term for the (soon-to-be-not) hypothetical departure of the UK from the European Union
bruh (noun): phonetic for “bro” or brother; a male friend (typically a form of address)
butt dial (verb): to accidentally and embarrassingly call make a call from a mobile phone in your pants pocket
butthurt (adjective): overly or unjustifiably offended or resentful, as in sensitive after a spanking (figurative or literal)
cakeage (noun): a charge at a restaurant for serving a cake they have not baked themselves
cat cafe (noun): a café or other place of business where people pay to play, pet etc. with cats on the premises
cupcakery (noun): a bakery that specializes in cupcakes; a good place for sweethearts of all persuasions to mix and mingle
deradicalization (noun): the process of a person with extreme views gradually adopting more moderate positions on political or social issues, also known as “Mission Impossible”
fast-casual (adjective): denoting a type of (relatively) high-quality self-service restaurant that offers prepared-to-order and more expensive meals than fast-food restaurants
fatberg (noun): a gigantic blob of solid fat in a sewer system, usually congealed food fats and greases as well as personal hygiene products that have been flushed down toilets; fatbergs are a growing problem in major metropolitan sewage systems
fat-shame (verb): to make a fat or overweight person feel humiliated by making mocking or critical comments about their weight; see dwarf tossing
fur baby (noun): another name for a (typically small) dog, cat, or other furry pet animal
glanceable (adjective): information, especially displayed on an electronic screen, that can be read and/or understood quickly and easily; a male term of appreciation for the breasts or butt of an attractive female
Grexit (noun): a term for the potential (inevitable) withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone
hangry (adjective): bad-tempered or irritable because of hunger; extremely hungry
manspreading (noun): practice whereby a man adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart to take up an adjacent seat; especially common (and particularly aggravating) on public transportation.
