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Merriam-Webster Adds 850 new words and definitions
- larkeith 9y agoMost of the examples given are fairly unsurprising, but I'm unsure how to feel about "embiggen" being in the dictionary. On the other end of the scale, I'm amazed "demonym" was previously absent.
- Spivak 9y agoKeep in mind that a dictionary isn't a manual on what does and does not constite valid English but a reference for how words are used by English speakers and writers. Whether you think it's good style or not to use embiggen if someone came across a text with the word it is useful to have it's meaning readily available.
- posterboy 9y agoPrescription versus Description is a false dichotomy. Certainly, the choice of words to include is prescriptive. Any other interpretation of the debate would be paradox, because, a descriptivist would have to describe it as prescriptive if many users think it's prescriptive. Getting out of that paradox requires reasoning that would be absurd compared to the simple solution that they are in fact being prescriptive whether they want to or not.
- vladf 9y ago> Any other interpretation of the debate would be paradox, because, a descriptivist would have to describe it as prescriptive if many users think it's prescriptive. Why is this a paradox? Why is prescriptivity a result of the actions of "many users"?
- posterboy 9y agogee, I have a hard time reading that myself now. Descriptivists would have to describe themselves as prescriptive, if many users think they are being prescriptive. -- Is that better? The irony is: Many users think the editors are descriptive, because that's what the editors prescribe. I really don't see a way out of this. Also see the comment I left on the sibling.
- CrystalLangUser 9y agoThat doesn’t make any sense. Descriptivism describes usage, not whether people think it’s prescriptivist or not. Each dictionary has their own standards for what constitutes enough usage to be considered a word. Otherwise we’d have infinite dictionaries. Dictionaries look at what many people say, and log those as words eventually. They’re decidedly Descriptivist.
- posterboy 9y agoThey are prescriptive by extension, e.g. when describing usage from prescriptive speakers. Language is not inherently descriptive or prescriptive, it is a false dichotomy, because language is acquired by copying, but it is is modified to suit needs, so it is used prescriptive. If language was purely descriptive, where did it first copy from? In a sense, I assume that language faculty is inherently prescribed in a natural way. And in another sense, the words show de-scription is copying (this doesn't work well in english, but in french e.g. it would be quite literall "ecrire de ..."), and pre-scription is what was written before it was copied. It's two sides of the same medal. If they describe, somebody else will interpret that as prescription, whether that was intended or not.
- derefr 9y ago> Keep in mind that a dictionary isn't a manual on what does and does not constite valid English but a reference for how words are used by English speakers and writers. A funny thought: dictionaries are to words as the Unicode standard is to characters.
- geoffpado 9y agoI don’t like that they added “embiggen” but left out “cromulent”, given the shared origin.
- PostThisTooFast 9y agoSeemed fine until the end, where metaphors have been mistaken for new words. Example: "dumpster fire." Webster's continues its descent into stupidity.
- Spivak 9y agoWhy don't you think phrases should have definitions? If someone is confused about what describing some event as a 'dumpster fire' actually means why can't the dictionary contain the answer?
- vuln 9y ago> Seemed fine until the end, where metaphors have been mistaken for new words. Example: "dumpster fire." > Webster's continues its descent into stupidity. I feel as if it a move to stay relevant. Who is actually buying dictionaries? When was the last time you saw a commercial or ad for a dictionary? When these additions we're announced I saw it on multiple news feeds with mostly comments like yours. I heard about it on talk radio on my drive to work. I also had coworkers talking about it. To me this is nothing more than advertising and an attempt to gain some sort of engagement to stay relevant.
- edmccard 9y ago>where metaphors have been mistaken for new words. Dictionaries have included metaphorical definitions for ... at least 60 years? I have a 1958 Webster's that defines "feather in one's cap" and "hard row to hoe" and probably quite a few more.
- igravious 9y ago> continues its descent into stupidity Nice figurative use of the word descent there. Would you also object to "train wreck" used metaphorically being catalogued in the dictionary? Are these not useful phrases for a language learner? How about "danger money"? How about "white lie"? "Red line"? Where is your red line when it comes to these things? Anyway maybe dictionaries don't only enumerate bare words. Who made that rule? Lexicographically why make a distinction between single word nouns and multi-word noun phrases? Also, would you ban phrasal verbs. We're allowed to enumerate "set" but "set down", "set up", "set upon", "set aside", … all these are verboten or are they A-OK?
- comradesmith 9y agoI personally don't like the inclusion of mutli-word phrases such as dark chocolate and dumpster fire. I feel like some of the new words don't yet have solid enough meanings to warrant a dictionary definition. I may be quite wrong..
- CydeWeys 9y agoIf I had to guess at their reasoning, it's because these phrases are greater than the sum of their parts. Dark chocolate isn't just literally dark in appearance, it has a higher percentage of pure cocoa. A dumpster fire isn't literally just a dumpster on fire, it's a situation that's FUBAR. So having definitions for these phrases has additional utility for readers in a way that having definitions for "red firetruck" or "trashcan fire" does not. Consider that many users of English dictionaries aren't entirely fluent in English, and might be coming from a language where these metaphors are different or non-existent. For instance, the German word for dark chocolate (because German has compound nouns where other languages have phrases) does not call it dark, it calls it bitter.
- plessthanpt05 9y agoWhere's the list? They mention far less than 850 words.
- Aardwolf 9y ago"dumpster fire" what makes this one worth its own entry? You could make a word for every type of thing that can be on fire: "carrot fire", "chair fire", etc... EDIT: I take my words back thanks to the replies. Learned that dumpster fire has a non-literal meaning so it's actually worth it. Gee what a dumpster fire this post is :)
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- theoh 9y agoBecause it's an idiom that has come mean something figuratively, not literally? Like "hot garbage". Plenty of info about the meaning of "dumpster fire" online.
- asdsa5325 9y agoIdioms don't belong in a dictionary though.
- a_t48 9y agoObviously the dictionary disagrees.
- dragonwriter 9y agoIdioms are terms that have meaning distinct from their component parts that are used in a language; their omission from a dictionary would cripple the normal use of a dictionary.
- CydeWeys 9y agoWhy not? Since we're talking about definitions of words here, there's nothing in the definition of "dictionary" that precludes idioms. Indeed, having common idioms in a dictionary is useful, because you typically refer to a dictionary when you don't know something, i.e. you also don't know if it's an idiom or not. Better for the dictionary to tell you that it is an idiom (and what it means) than to simply omit it. People typically go to dictionaries to figure out the meaning of something they've just read or heard; whether or not something is an idiom, they still need to know what it means.
- jasonjei 9y agoMerriam-Webster is ahead of the curve. I just checked Oxford English Dictionary online and don’t see entries for cryptocurrency or blockchain. I do see an entry for Bitcoin on OED, though.
- aries1980 9y agoCan someone explain to me why the “life hack” should be written separately instead with a hyphen as “life-hack”?
- dredmorbius 9y agoOne ... guide on the topic: http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/misc.html#analretentive http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/faq/misc.html#analretentive
- aries1980 9y agoGot it, thanks!