C’mon And Agree
- Posted by: Jason Jude Chan
- on July 8, 2008 at 4:48 pm
As academics continue to argue if Shakespeare was or wasn’t the author of the “words, words, words” ascribed to his name, 100-odd new words were added to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.
Besides a bevy of consumables, such as soju (a Korean distilled-rice vodka) and edamame (those immature green soybeans everyone noshes on nowadays), tech jargon also made A-Z headway with entries like webinar (an online meeting) and netroots (political grassroots activists who communicate online, especially in blogs).
Our favorite addition, mondegreen, has already become a strong contender for the pub’s Word of the Year (w00t and truthiness are the last two title-holders). A close relation of the eggcorn (which Mark Peters wrote about in GOOD 10), the word is defined as a word or phrase that arises from mishearing something said or sung. You can share your favorite wordplays at Merriam-Webster until July 25th.
