The latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary has added a bunch of new words that have been widely used for years and years, giving some newer and highly useful phrases the lexicographical equivalent of a "verified" status on Twitter. Among the newly added words are "jack-off," "slacktivism," "gender-fluid," and "moobs." Anyone who is lost at this point can now literally go look it up in the dictionary, along with hundreds of other words that went live on Monday.
The Oxford English Dictionary is updated every three months, and this round of updates has a mix of words born online, in pop culture, and from literature.
Fans of The OC will quickly recognize the newly Oxford minted word, "yogalates," as "a fitness routine combining pilates exercises with the techniques of yoga." "Slacktivist" and "squee" are just two of the words that are rooted in social media terminology, and "'Merica," along with "fuhgeddaboudit" represent U.S. regionalisms that are now widely used and recognized. In the NSFW category, "jagoff" and "biatch" also made in this round.
Reuters reported that several of the new words added to the OED come to us from the beloved children's book author Roald Dahl, who was born 100 years ago this month. The words "Dahlesque," "splendiferous," and "gremlin" now appear in the latest edition.
OED editor Katherine Martin told TIME the wide use of social media means slang and regionalisms are now being written out regularly, making it more clear how newer terms are used and spelled, which makes it easier to build a case for why they should be added to the dictionary.
