The New Oxford American Dictionary has added a slew of 21st Century terms to the new edition, and the OUP blog has listed many of them. Interestingly enough, a host of text messaging abbreviations have entered the new edition.
The new words include big media, green-collar, lipstick lesbian, and social networking. What do you think? Do these new words deserve a place in a dictionary? Can a dictionary ever adapt to the world of text messaging? Here are three of our favorite new entries:
“BFF n. (pl. BFFs) informal a girl’s best friend: my BFF’s boyfriend is cheating on her. -ORIGIN 1996: from the initial letters of best friend forever.”
“bromance n. informal a close but nonsexual relationship between two men. -ORIGIN early 21st cent.: blend of brother and romance.”
“LMAO abbr. vulgar slang laughing my ass off.”