Новинки Уэбстера: ZAIBATSU
Check out the latest:
- chick flick: movies meant to appeal to women
- bikini wax: discreet hair removal procedure
- brain freeze: sudden shooting pain in the head caused by ingesting very cold food
- steganography: art or practice of concealing a message, image, or file within another message, image, or file
- cybrarian: person who finds, collects, and manages information available on the Internet
- hospitalist: physician who specializes in treating hospitalized patients of other physicians, in order to minimize the number of hospital visits by other physicians
- SARS: acronym for the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
- Amuse-bouche: small complimentary appetizer
- Battle dress: military uniform for field service
- DHS: Department of Homeland Security
- Hazmat: hazardous material (as flammable or poisonous material)
- Metadata: data that provide information about other data
- Otology: science that deals with the ear and its diseases
- Retronym: a noun and a modifier which specifies the original meaning of the noun. ("Film camera," for instance).
- Tide pool: pool of salt water left (as in a rock basin) by an ebbing tide, called also tidal pool
- Wi-Fi: mark to certify the interoperability of wireless computer networking devices
- ZAIBATSU: powerful financial and industrial conglomerate of Japan
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“We have editors who spend a part of each day reading magazines and newspapers, looking for evidence of how words are being more commonly used,” said John Morse, Merriam-Webster's president and publisher. “We're looking for words that show up in the contexts that the average adult might encounter.”
The Springfield-based dictionary publisher has an ongoing list of about 17 million words it monitors.
Every year, a few of them make it into print, followed by a succinct definition.
Once a decade, the Collegiate Dictionary is completely rewritten, with some old words tossed out to accommodate the influx of about 10,000 of the latest nouns, verbs and adjectives.
The last rewrite was done in 2003.
It takes about 10 years for a promising word to get into the dictionary from the time it first gets noticed. But some have a speedy rise to Merriam-Webster legitimacy, depending on the urgency of their meaning and impact
Among this year's fastest climbers is SARS, that began making headlines just two years ago with an outbreak in China.
“That was enough of a public health concern to get it in the dictionary right away,” Morse said. “Now, one of two things could happen. Either we'll never hear about SARS again, and if so, I've wasted three lines of type in the dictionary. Or it will come back, and everyone will go to the dictionary in a time of need to see how SARS is defined.”
Merriam-Webster is also recognizing gays' "civil unions", which have been talked about enough in social and political circles to earn a place in the Collegiate's latest edition.
The dictionary dates the term's genesis to 1992. But a Vermont lawmaker insists it wasn't really coined until 2000, when his state became the country's first to establish the legal rights of same-sex couples.
“We needed to decide a name for this, and we just didn't have one,” said Bill Lippert, a Democrat who now chairs the Legislature's House Judiciary Committee. “Somewhere, someone said ‘civil union,’ and we all said ‘oh, that sounds good.’ It was a name that did what we wanted it to do. It was new, it designated that the fact that this was a civil act, and it suggested the bringing together of a union.”
Others terms seem like they've been a long time coming.
Merriam-Webster traces the bikini wax's origins to 1985, and some spa owners say it's about time the hair-removal procedure made it into the dictionary.
“Bikini waxes are now old hat,” said Shannon Fluery, owner of the Brooks and Butterfield Day Spa in Northampton, where as many as 40 women come in for a bikini wax each week. “It's not such a taboo as it used to be. People wouldn't talk about it too much and just did them at home. But salons have definitely picked up on them, and now they're very, very common.”
At last, Merriam-Webster agreed.
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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9579179