Merriam-Webster Adds Over 400 Growingly Common Words, Including ‘Copypasta’
Image ID 59990922 © Oleg Dudko | Dreamstime.com
As with its annual update, Merriam-Webster has announced that it add 455 new words to the dictionary this year, including terms from the cultural, political, and technical lexicon.
Many of the words were tech-related, with entries such as “teraflop” and “bit rot” added to the mix. Hilariously, “copypasta” made it to the short-list too, denoting “data (such as a block of text) that has been copied and spread widely online.”
Unfortunately, as the COVID-19 pandemic rages on, words such as “super-spreader,” “vaccine passport,” and “long COVID” were also added to the mix.
According to Mashable, the publisher adds new words based on certain metrics, such as how often they are used, and if it’s used by most of the general population.
Although, it must be said, some of the chosen words have been in common language for quite a while—“tbh,” “amirite,” and “ftw” might stretch back at least a decade.
From the pop culture section, as per the official report, this year’s entries saw words such as “otaku” (a person obsessed with anime and manga) and “dad bod” (a physique typical of an average father) making the list.
Sure, dictionaries may not be at the cutting-edge of slang and often take a few years to catch up, but it’s still funny knowing words like “copypasta” have made it from Twitter threads onto the pages of officially defined words.
[via Mashable and Merriam-Webster, cover image ID 59990922 © Oleg Dudko | Dreamstime.com]
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