The relentless coronavirus pandemic, the nation’s ongoing reckoning with race and identity, and the ever-changing world of technology continue to shape the English language — including slang.
The latest additions to Dictionary.com include a series of race- and virus-related terms, such as “Black Code” and “long hauler,” as well as increasingly common expressions like “yeet,” “oof” and “s—t- show,” the online lexicon revealed Wednesday.
“The latest update to our dictionary continues to mirror the world around us,” said John Kelly, the website’s managing editor. “Long COVID, minoritize, 5G, content warning, domestic terrorism — it’s a complicated and challenging society we live in, and language changes to help us grapple with it.”
Dictionary.com defines “long COVID” as a condition characterized by symptoms or health problems that linger or appear after recovering from the virus. “Long hauler” has a similar use, relating to the long-term effects of an acute illness or infection.
“Minoritize” was updated to define the action of making a person or group subordinate in status to a more dominant group or its members — one of multiple updates showing how the ongoing debate on race has changed the English language. “Black Code,” for instance, is now defined as any code of law that limited the rights of formerly enslaved African Americans following the Civil War.
The website also updated its entry for “Aunt Jemima,” which is now defined as a disparaging and offensive term used to refer to a Black woman considered by other Black people to be subservient to or to curry favor with white people.
But the English language sometimes changes “just for fun,” Kelly said.
“Yes, yeet is now in the dictionary, which may prompt some of us to use one other of our new entries: oof!” he said.
The increasingly popular exclamation “yeet” is used to show enthusiasm, approval, triumph, pleasure and joy, according to Dictionary.com. “Oof,” on the other hand, is an exclamation to sympathize with someone else’s pain or dismay, or to express one’s own.
“Perhaps these lighter slang and pop culture newcomers to our dictionary reflect another important aspect of our time — a cautious optimism and a brighter mood about the future ahead after a trying 2020,” Kelly said in a statement.
Other additions include:
- 5G: fifth-generation: being or relating to communications technology or a mobile device that supports much faster data-transfer speeds with significantly lower latency than previous versions.
- blamestorm: the process of assigning blame for a negative outcome or situation.
- boondoggle: a wasteful and worthless project undertaken for political, corporate or personal gain, typically a government project funded by taxpayers.
- cultural appropriation: the adoption, usually without acknowledgment, of cultural identity markers from subcultures or minority communities into mainstream culture by people with a relatively privileged status.
- deplatform: to prohibit (a person or people) from sharing their views in a public forum, especially by banning a user from posting on a social media website or application.
- s—tshow: a person or thing that is a total mess, failure or disaster.
- snack: a sexy and physically attractive person; hottie.
- TW (abbreviation for trigger warning): a stated warning that the content of the following text, video, etc., may cause distressing psychological or physiological reactions, especially in people who have experienced a related trauma.
