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Opening Arguments

Just call me cheeseball

The new Oxford Dictionary is out, which means new words and phrases, most, of them, alas, not ones to really welcome: vuvuzela, climate change, credit crunch, toxic debt. But there are a few fun ones:

To balance them out among the 2,000 or so new items there are a few more left-field choices.

Among them are cheeseball, which refers to someone or something lacking taste, style or originality, and the more disturbing phenomenon of hikikomori, the Japanese word for the acute social withdrawal that occurs in some teenage boys.

More words, just what we need. In case you missed the milestone, the English language passed the million-word threshold on June 10, 2009.

Comments

Bob G.
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 5:58pm

Leo:
Makes me wonder WHICH word(s) they will decide to DROP...
(got more than a few in mind)

;)

Lewis Allen
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 6:35pm

A japenese term that should be a part of our vocabulary is 'wabi', or wabi-sabi. From wikipedia, "The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". Reminds me of the beautiful old, ruined barns that can be seen in the rural areas around here.

gadfly
Fri, 08/20/2010 - 10:34pm

Not that anyone really cares, but I have always liked nutty cheeseballs and crackers ... but I hear tell that the NAALCP really dislikes crackers ... especially Dr. Laura.

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