Colloquial English, slang and children books. These are the sources where new entries to the Oxford English Dictionary come from.
The Oxford English Dictionary recently saw the addition of new words according to . You will not find translation of these rare words in regular dictionaries, as they are newly born.
There are about 1000 of new words, some of which now officially belong to the literary English in honour of Roald Dahl, the author of such cult books as ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’, ‘Matilda’, ‘The BFG’. His books take readers on a journey to magical worlds, described with imaginative language. The words invented by Roald Dahl have been in use for quite a while, and now you can find them in the Oxford English Dictionary.
dahlesque – in Roald Dahl’s style, with whimsical characters and black humor.
Golden Ticket – a thing which gives hope for a precious prize (after the ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’).
human bean – a funny description of a transformed human (after ‘The BFG’).
Oompa Loompa – small or a very tanned man (allusion to tiny workers in the ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’).
scrumdiddlyumptious – “very tasty”, when it goes about food, “very attractive” speaking of a person (after ‘The BFG’).
There are some more neologisms:
YOLO – abbreviation from rapper Drake’s songs. It means “You Only Live Once”: act right now, do not postpone.
moobs – breast of an overweight man.
squee! – an exclamation, explaining delight or surprise.
gender-fluid – a person uncertain with their gender belonging.
yogalates – fitness combining Pilates and yoga breathing techniques.
Westminster bubble – politicians, civil servants, journalists working in the district of Westminster in London and nearby. This expression is usually applied to people who are out of synch with reality.
uptalk – habit of rising intonation at the end of each sentence, so it sounds like an interrogative one.
cheeseball – deprived of taste, style, originality.
“We are constantly tracing words, which are becoming common,” says Jonathan Dent, a member of the Oxford team, who is responsible for adding new words. Linguists usually wait for 10 years and if the word is still in usage they add it to the lexical database.
Jonathan himself has no favorite words: “I try not to be carried away by certain words to remain unbiased and give any words the same chances.” However, he admits he is glad that words from Roald Dahl’s works have been added to the dictionary.
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