'Tweet' earns a place among 100 new terms
Source: Agencies |
August 26, 2011, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HERE'S something for your Twitter feed - "tweet" has earned a spot in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.
Used as both a noun and a verb, the word describing a post made on the online Twitter message service is among more than 100 new terms revealed yesterday for the dictionary publisher's latest edition.
"Tweet" takes its place among newly included words that reflect everything from high-tech advances to the delicate nuances of family and social relationships.
The newcomers include overly involved "helicopter parents," for instance, and the "boomerang child" who is returned home in adulthood for financial reasons. Maybe he is spending his days listening to "Americana" music, steering clear of that lonely "cougar" across the street and hanging out with his best buddy, shaking off jokes that they are in a "bromance."
And, of course, he "tweets" every detail of it.
The wordsmiths at the Massachusetts-based dictionary publisher said they picked the new entries after monitoring their use over several years and watching for references in a variety of sources, including mainstream media outlets.
Some terms, like tweet, rocketed into prominence in recent years as celebrities, politicians and news outlets embraced Twitter to reach a worldwide audience.
Peter Sokolowski, -Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, said: "Even if people had no interest in or possible chance of getting a Twitter account themselves, they now have to know what 'tweet' means. It is not just because the users of that service are so numerous, although they are. It is because even the non-users have to know what that word means because they will encounter it so often in everyday use."
A London-based competitor, the Oxford English Dictionary, also recognized the growing service when it added "retweet" to its concise version this summer with other technology-influenced terms, such as cyber-bullying, which already has a spot in Merriam--Webster's dictionary.
Another noteworthy newcomer is "fist bump" - in which two people touch fists - which Merriam-Webster president and publisher John Morse said he considered "the star of the group" for its ability succinctly to capture the movement and emotion of a simple act of solidarity.
Two people can take special credit for the elevation of "fist bump" into the dictionary - US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, whose knuckle-knocking gesture of affection when he accepted the 2008 nomination was described by the Washington Post as "the fist bump heard round the world."
Other new words for 2011 in Merriam-Webster include terms heavily influenced by new technology, like m-commerce - business transactions conducted via a mobile device.
Others, like cougar - an unflattering term for a -middle-aged woman on the hunt for a younger man - might not have made it into the dictionary because of their slang roots, but became too widely used to overlook.
Used as both a noun and a verb, the word describing a post made on the online Twitter message service is among more than 100 new terms revealed yesterday for the dictionary publisher's latest edition.
"Tweet" takes its place among newly included words that reflect everything from high-tech advances to the delicate nuances of family and social relationships.
The newcomers include overly involved "helicopter parents," for instance, and the "boomerang child" who is returned home in adulthood for financial reasons. Maybe he is spending his days listening to "Americana" music, steering clear of that lonely "cougar" across the street and hanging out with his best buddy, shaking off jokes that they are in a "bromance."
And, of course, he "tweets" every detail of it.
The wordsmiths at the Massachusetts-based dictionary publisher said they picked the new entries after monitoring their use over several years and watching for references in a variety of sources, including mainstream media outlets.
Some terms, like tweet, rocketed into prominence in recent years as celebrities, politicians and news outlets embraced Twitter to reach a worldwide audience.
Peter Sokolowski, -Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, said: "Even if people had no interest in or possible chance of getting a Twitter account themselves, they now have to know what 'tweet' means. It is not just because the users of that service are so numerous, although they are. It is because even the non-users have to know what that word means because they will encounter it so often in everyday use."
A London-based competitor, the Oxford English Dictionary, also recognized the growing service when it added "retweet" to its concise version this summer with other technology-influenced terms, such as cyber-bullying, which already has a spot in Merriam--Webster's dictionary.
Another noteworthy newcomer is "fist bump" - in which two people touch fists - which Merriam-Webster president and publisher John Morse said he considered "the star of the group" for its ability succinctly to capture the movement and emotion of a simple act of solidarity.
Two people can take special credit for the elevation of "fist bump" into the dictionary - US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, whose knuckle-knocking gesture of affection when he accepted the 2008 nomination was described by the Washington Post as "the fist bump heard round the world."
Other new words for 2011 in Merriam-Webster include terms heavily influenced by new technology, like m-commerce - business transactions conducted via a mobile device.
Others, like cougar - an unflattering term for a -middle-aged woman on the hunt for a younger man - might not have made it into the dictionary because of their slang roots, but became too widely used to overlook.
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