Cyberchondriac, LARP, and scratchiti: ODO quarterly update February 2012

Are you a schwag-grabbing, scratchiti-daubing, shootie-wearing, smart home-owning, social gaming addict keen on sleep hygiene who lives in the slurbs? Then you may be interested in the new words added to our free online dictionary. And even if you’re none of these things, our latest update to Oxford Dictionaries Online includes oodles of other new words and senses to tickle your fancy.

Are you game for learning some new words?

Gaming plays a large role in the new additions, with gamification and ludology both featuring. If you enjoy interacting with friends from all over the world while you indulge in some social gaming, perhaps you’ll be so fluent in each other’s languages that you’ll be code-switching (another new addition to our dictionary) to your heart’s content. Or if you prefer face-to-face activities, why not partake in a spot of LARPing?

The way to a lexicographer’s heart is through their stomach

Equally, food never seems too far from our lexicographers minds as they decide which words to include in our Oxford Dictionaries, with both girolle (a type of mushroom) and yakisoba (a Japanese noodle dish) featuring in the latest update. Nom nom! But spare a thought for those of us who live in an urban food desert (no, it’s not a misspelt type of pudding), where it’s difficult to find affordable and good-quality fresh food.

And that’s not all. The new additions also include boofy babe magnets, cyberchondriacs, boy shorts-wearing duathletes and many other wondrous words, from deboss and rewild to unspellable and vodcast.

Posted on: February 27 2012 | Categories: Dictionaries and lexicography, Word trends and new words | Tags: cyberchondriac, gamification, LARP, new words, Oxford Dictionaries, quarterly update