Friday, March 12, 2021

dictionary.com, dictionary, new words, language, new words, pandemic | Max 106.3 | Toby Knapp - KFI AM 640 - Dictionary

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As part of its latest update, Dictionary.com has embraced three terms inspired by jokes from sitcoms that aired in the mid-‘90s. Two of the words, "cromulent" and "embiggen," were inspired by a 1996 episode of "The Simpsons," during a scene which hinged both terms being nonsense words.

But now, the digital dictionary is legitimizing both of these non-words with official definitions — "cromulent" meaning "acceptable or legitimate," and "embiggen" meaning "to make or become bigger" — and perhaps ensuring that future generations, looking back at ‘90s TV, won’t get the joke. Dictionary.com credits the popularity of the third questionable word — "supposably" — to the character of Joey Tribbiani of "Friends," who definitely didn’t invent the term, but may have helped to popularize it in a 1995 episode. “Supposably.”

Other new entries to the Dictionary.com database include terms that entered our lexicon amid the pandemic, including "hybrid learning," "superspreader" and a new definition for the word "Zoom." And some entries, like "doomscrolling"(obsessively checking the Internet for bad news) or "sleep hygiene" (trying to get a maintain our quality of sleep) were directly inspired by habits that many of us were partaking in during lockdown, too.

HT: Fox News

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