Taking new, and old, words out for a spin

As society and culture evolves (hopefully) and changes, language does too. Merriam-Webster has recently added 455 “new” words to its dictionary to reflect those changes.

“TBH” (to be honest) — which has graduated from an abbreviation to fullword status — I love new words as much as the next person especially when so many of them reflect the era in which we find ourselves. In 2020, the English word of the year was “pandemic.” And from living in the time of COVID other words have popped up in daily lexicon.

This year, “digital nomads” who have not been “deplatformed” and want to avoid “super-spreader” events following which they may find themselves with a “breakthrough” infection followed by “long COVID” may only want to travel or attend events or dine out where a “vaccine passport” is required. “Amirite” or, “amirite?”

In the science and technology category a new word on the scene is “copypasta.” This is not a dish you’ll see on the dinner table. It refers to data — a block of text or even a meme — that has been copied and spread widely online for everyone’s social media ingestion. Oh yum.

But, again, TBH, my favorite “new” word in the science words category is “Oobleck.” If you’re a Dr. Seuss fan or had kids of your own, this is not really a new word or even a new thing. Oobleck gets its name from the title of Dr. Seuss’ story, “Bartholomew and the Oobleck” and is a mixture of corn starch and water that behaves like a liquid when at rest and like a solid when pressure is applied. Good stuff especially if you add food coloring and glitter.

“Doorbell cameras” seem to be a favored bit of new tech among guys with “dad bods” and “fauxhawks,” a hairstyle resembling a Mohawk in having a central ridge of upright hair but with the sides gathered or slicked upward or back instead of shaved. No one ever said the new words reflected good taste in personal fashion style, just a description. Many new food terms come from the cuisines of cultures that speak a language other than English, but have become so popular in the U.S. that Merriam-Webster has included them in the menu of new words.

And what a tasty highcaloric menu it is too.

You can now chow down on “chicharron,” a fried pork belly snack before your main course of “goetta,” which is meat mixed with oats, onions and spices that comes in the form of a patty and may or may not be cooked in a “ghost kitchen” using an “air fryer.” You can chase it all down with a tall glass of “horchata,” a chilled, sweetened drink made from ground rice or almonds and flavored with cinnamon. But if you choose not to imbibe well, then, you can now at least officially use any of these words in Scrabble.

While the “chicharron” sound horrifyingly disgusting to me there is a new addition to the dictionary faire that makes my tastebuds sing. After eating it for years, though not in many and not on a regular basis, “fluffernutter,” a combination of peanut butter and marshmallow cream on white bread, has finally made to, if not haute cuisine, the dictionary. Now children (and those of us with a sweet tooth and a child’s tastebuds) around the country are rejoicing though we’d rather have it on our plates than in the good book.

As everyone is busy making up and using new words, I think it’s a shame really that so many wonderful words have fallen out of use. So “henceforth” I am staging a one woman word revival which I think will be “swell.”

I’ll be “gallivanting” around in my new “britches” which I bought for an upcoming “hootenanny” to which I’m looking forward to attending for the “scrumptious” food. While my “temerity” and “impudence” may leave you “aghast” and thinking it’s all just so much “gobbledygook” I can a sure you that soon you too will be “besotted” with the endeavor to bring back these “groovy” words.