(WICHITA, Kan.) — OMG, LOL, BFF. Those are letters you'd probably see on your teenager's cell phone. Now, you'll also see them in the dictionary. They are some of the 900 new words added to the Oxford English Dictionary.
Eyewitness News went to the mall, because if anyone knows anything about texting, we knew we would find them here.
Zach Turner said he texts pretty often. "Most times of the day," said the teen. "All day, every day, whenever I'm bored and free," said Sayrah Kelepolo, then added, "except when I'm doing my school work."
So we knew they'd be able to decipher all those words they type on their cell phones. Turner types 'DNT' to mean 'don't.' Sayrah types about 'abt' in her phone. "Laugh out loud," she said is "LOL", and "Oh My God is OMG."
So when we told the teens some of those words are now recognized in a revered tome of the English Language, they smiled, and said that was either crazy or cool. But as Turner's friend Christina Pitts said of OMG and LOL, "They're not real words." She then tried to clarify, "they are, but, separately. But not together."
That's where we run into a vocabulary controversy. These newly-inaugurated words stand for other words, and are mostly typed with thumbs, rarely vocalized with tongues.
"If I'm really excited, I'll run up to someone like, Oh My God!," explained Kelepolo's friend Stephanie Ludiker. "I won't say OMG! I just think that's weird."
But just like the technology that made these phrases common -- the English Language also evolves. "I think they put in bling, not too long ago," said Turner. "Enough people started saying bling, then they put it in the dictionary. I mean, if everybody uses it, and that's what we understand each other as, then it makes sense."
Remember: if you don't understand what the word means, that's why its in the dictionary.
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Added to dictionary
OMG, LOL
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Some other words that made the Oxford English Dictionary:
- bloggable - a suitable topic for blogging
- onliner - an internet user
- cyberbullying - using the internet to inflict emotional harm upon
- clickjacking - manipulating a user’s activity by concealing hyperlinks
- sexting - sending explicit images or messages
- tbh - to be honest
- feature phone - a mobile phone with extra features
- fnarr fnarr - sniggering in text-speak
- tanorexia - an obsessive desire to get a tan
- jazz hands - a gesture with hands waved to express excitement
- trolleyed - extremely drunk
- gastric band - a device for the surgical treatment of obesity
- rumor mill - the process by which rumors are originated and circulated
- light-bulb moment - a moment of sudden realization
- wags – the wives and girlfriends of soccer players
- muffin top – a protuberance of flesh above the waistband of a tight pair of pants
- ego-surfing – searching on the internet for mentions of one’s own name
- banh mi – a Vietnamese sandwich with pickles and meat
- taquito - a small Mexican taco, or fried roll of filled maize bread
- kleftiko – a Greek dish of slow-cooked lamb
- Bang one’s head against a brick wall – (phrase) to engage in a futile or fruitless effort
- Hedge one’s bets – (phrase) to confront uncertain circumstances by pursuing multiple courses of action; to avoid committing oneself.
- Five-second rule (also three- and ten-) – (noun) a notional rule which permits the retrieval and consumption of dropped food within the specified period of time
- Scrunchy – (adj) of a wrinkled or ruffled appearance
- State-run – (adj) operated or managed by the government of a country
- Tragic – (noun) a boring or socially inept person, especially a person who pursues a solitary interest with obsessive dedication
- Tinfoil hat – (noun) used with allusion to the belief that such a hat made of metal foil will protect the wearer from mind control or surveillance
- Storming – (adj) great, excellent, marvellous
- Tasty – violent, good at fighting
- Yuck factor – (noun) a feeling of horror, revulsion, or disgust generated by an idea, action or situation
