Yesterday, I struck out from my man cave and met up with a few friends at a local gastropub. After a few craft beers, my friend Will was dropping the f-bomb left and right so — before things got to a tipping point — we got the heck out of there. We were all gassed, so we slammed down a few energy drinks and got on with our day.
A week or two ago, my copy editor* would not have let me write that story here, since seven of the words I used weren’t officially words. But now they are! Thanks to Merriam-Webster, which has released the list of words it’s adding to its Collegiate dictionary for 2012.
And if you’ve ever wondered who decides what new words make it into the dictionary, your wondering days are over.
Guest:
Peter Sokolowski, lexicographer and editor-at-large for Merriam-Webster: “The only languages that don’t change are dead languages.”
Check out a more complete list of the new words from The Atlantic
Heard on the show: Sokolowski’s video explaining how words get cut from the dictionary.
Armed with your arsenal of new words you, too, can be a Scrabble champion:
* Ed. note: “man cave” is two words in Merriam-Webster. See definition.
