GOAT, time suck and force quit: How Gen Z changed the
dictionary
Just as Shakespeare did some four centuries ago, many
people continue to adapt and invent words and phrases to fit with the
zeitgeist.
Nowadays, many words that seep into everyday language
originate from social media, something that American dictionary Merriam-Webster
has taken note of.
More than 800 new words have just been added to the
online version of the dictionary, including abbreviated words frequently used
by social media aficionados such as ‘avo’ (short for avocado), ‘guac’ (short
for guacamole), and ‘fav’ (short for favourite).
Many of the new entries are unsurprisingly related to
the digital age, with ‘predictive’ (referring to predictive text), ‘time suck’
(an activity to which one devotes a lot of time) and ‘force quit’ (to shut down
an app or program) officially recognised by the American dictionary.
On top of that, several of the words now included in
the dictionary highlight the strong influence that the millennial and
Generation Z generations have had on contemporary culture. ‘Bougie’ (a
disparaging substitute for bourgeois), ‘adorbs’ (short for adorable) and ‘GOAT’
(an abbreviation for the greatest of all time) can now all be found on
Merriam-Webster, terms that people in older generations may be slightly less
familiar with.
Merriam-Webster takes note of the widespread use of
certain words and phrases when updating the dictionary, as the announcement
detailing the new entries explains.
“It’s important to remember that new words are added
to the dictionary only when they have already been used by many people, often
initially by specialists or subcultures,” it states.
“The dictionary’s job is to report that usage as it
enters the general vocabulary. There is no average speed for a word’s
acceptance into the language, the culture and the dictionary.”
Sabrina Barr
THE INDEPENDENT
IN TOI9SEP18
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