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'Bingeable,' 'biohacking' and 'fintech' are now officially words
To say that the internet has played a massive role in the shaping of global society is a bit of an understatement, really, but one area that often gets overlooked is its influence on language. Thanks to teh interwebz (bear with me), we're all exposed to words, phrases and spellings from languages and subcultures we might never have access to otherwise, and this has opened up a whole world of linguistic joy (and loathing). Today, Merriam-Webster has added more than 840 new entries to its dictionary, a step in the continuous process of recording our ever-expanding language.
Even Merriam-Webster realizes the world is a dumpster fire
Every year, the vocabulary druids at Merriam-Webster decide which words bubbling to the top of the cultural consensus should be immortalized forever in its dictionary. In early 2017, the list of over 1,000 additions included CRISPR and botnet, a clear reflection of the scientific and election-related terms buzzing around society. But now, Merriam-Webster has added the words that so clearly defined last year -- and at the top of the list is 'dumpster fire.'
CRISPR, 'binge-watch' and 'botnet' are now in the dictionary
The vocabulary experts who decide which terms get added to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary are at it again. Today, over 1,000 new words made the cut from fields like science, tech, medicine pop culture, sports and more. Among the new additions are CRISPR, botnet and binge-watch alongside microbiome, truther, SCOTUS and FLOTUS. Other notable new entries include Seussian -- of, relating to, or suggestive of the works of Dr. Seuss -- and the technical term for the inability to recognize faces: prosopagnosia. Merriam-Webster doesn't publish the full list of new additions, but you can take a brief survey via the source link below.
Kobo unbuttons for $129 eReader Touch Edition, we go hands-on (video)
Kobo today kicked off Book Expo America with the launch of a new six-inch, one-button touchscreen e-reader -- named, appropriately enough, the Kobo eReader Touch Edition. Priced at $130 -- $10 cheaper than Amazon's Kindle -- the pocket-sized device strives for a reading experience more akin to that of old timey paper books, courtesy of a Zeforce infrared touchscreen, new Pearl eInk technology, and a freescale i.MX507 processor for faster page turning. Click on through for more details and our impressions of this little reader.
'Fanboy' gains respect, enters Merriam-Webster dictionary
The word defining folks over at Merriam-Webster Inc. have added "Fanboy," along with 100 other words, to the newest edition of its Collegiate Dictionary*. Fanboy is actually one of the "oldest" of the "new" words, with its origins dating back to 1919. The wordsmiths define fanboy as a "boy who is an enthusiastic devotee, such as of comics or movies." Fanboys should feel free to write with self-righteous fury to MW and let them know it can also apply to video games ... tell them you'll never read their dictionary again if they don't correct this grievous oversight (also make an online petition).This isn't the first time in recent memory some bit of gaming culture seeped its way into the good word book at Merriam-Webster; "w00t" became the company's word of the year in 2007. So, w00t to all the fanboys out there, the dictionary acknowledges your existence.*OSX users will find the Dictionary widget, which uses The Oxford American Dictionary, already defines "fanboy." Merriam-Webster is a different company.
"DVR" added to Merriam-Webster dictionary
We've toiled and we've troubled, and finally our hard work has paid off: the term "DVR" has been accepted by Merriam-Webster in its Eleventh Edition Collegiate Dictionary. Strangely, DVR joins the dictionary at the same time as RPG (or rocket propelled grenade): we're guessing the staff at Merriam-Webster switched over from their TiVo for a bit of Gears action, reminding them that RPG needed to be in there too.
Merriam Webster USB Dictionary and Thesaurus
Remember the good 'ol days when that hundred-pound slab of text was the only way to beef up your vocabulary? Merriam Webster, a well-defined name in the business, has stuffed over 300,000 definitions and 500,000 synonyms onto a 256MB USB drive (with a couple hundred megs to spare, we understand). Aside from having the entire dictionary and thesaurus at your disposal, it comes with a few other tools to help proof your masterpiece: phonetic spell correction, a grammar guide, confusable function alerts -- a feature that alerts the user if there's a potential mix-up in similar sounding words -- and even a crossword puzzle solver to show that newspaper who's boss. All things we could probably use around here at Engadget HQ, we know, we know. So if your word processor's checking functions have failed you once too many, or you simply find comfort in always having the right words to say, the $49 drive could prove quite meaningful. [Via Popgadget]
A dictionary on your iPod
Many people have been lamenting the fact that there is no full fledged dictionary available for their iPods, but now they can rejoice. Merriam Webster, working with iPREPpress, has just released an iPod ready version of their dictionary. It'll set you back $9.95 (which is a special introductory price) and it only works with 3rd generation iPods or later.Thanks, Dhiram Shah.
