The Oxford English Dictionary is constantly adding new words, often reflecting new cultural phenomena, and some additions may be surprising. These are a few that were added in spring 2019. Many are all too familiar.
Adorbs
Cute or adorable; inducing great delight.
Bestie
A person’s best friend.
Binge-watch
To watch multiple episodes of a TV series in quick succession, often by digital streaming or DVDs.
Bookaholic
A prolific reader or book buyer.
Bro hug
A friendly hug between two men.
Dance-off
A competition or round in a contest in which several dancers compete.
Emoji
An icon or small digital image used to express an emotion or idea.
Fuhgeddaboudit
Literally “forget about it”, used to indicate an unlikely or undesirable scenario, used in the TV series The Sopranos.
Gaydar
The ability of homosexuals to recognize one another by small signs in body language and speech, or just “vibes”.
Glam-ma
A glamorous grandmother who is fashion conscious or relatively young.
Glamping
Camping that involves facilities that are more luxurious than those normally associated with traditional camping.
Hangry
Irritable or bad-tempered caused by hunger.
MacGyver
Verb to construct, modify, or construct in an inventive way, using whatever is to hand. Based on the title of the 1980s TV series, which has recently been “rebooted”.
Phablet
A smartphone that is typically larger than the usual one but smaller than a tablet computer.
Puggle
A cross-bred dog, the result of crossing a pug and a beagle.
Selfie
A picture taken by and of oneself on a smartphone or webcam and shared on social media.
Vlog
A personal website or social media account used to post short videos.
Vom
Vomit.
Worstest
The worst in an emphatic way.
Yas
An expression of excitement or pleasure.
YOLO
Literally “you only live once”, to suggest living for the moment, often impulsively, without any worry for the future. [Possibly not a term used by someone who believes in reincarnation?]