Brain Fart, Bants and Fur Baby Added to Oxford Online Dictionary
Posted on August 31, 2015
The Oxford University Press has announced its quarterly update to its free online dictionary, OxfordDictionaries.com. The online dictionary of current English words keeps up with the trends, reflecting new language terms used in both the UK and the USA. This quarter's updates has some surprises. First up is brain fart, meaning a temporary blip of reasoning or judgment. The term has mostly fallen out of favor so we have no idea why it would merit an entry.
An addition that is long overdue is MacGyver as a verb. Based on the hit television show starring Richard Dean Anderson, the term means to take ordinary items and use them to solve the problem at hand or make needed repairs, like using paperclips to defuse a nuclear bomb.
Other useful additions include rage quit (to quit an online game or internet activity suddenly in disgust or rage), Redditor (one who posts on Reddit), subreddit (a forum dedicated to a specific topic on Reddit), blockchain (a digital ledger in which transactions made in bitcoin or another cryptocurrency which are recorded chronologically and publicly), fur baby (a person’s dog, cat, or other furry pet animal) and manic pixie dream girl (a female character in a movie or book who is perky and quirky whose only function is to inspire the male protagonist to really appreciate life).
From the gaming and anime worlds the dictionary added mecha (a large armored robot usually controlled by a person riding inside the robot as seen in the film Pacific Rim) and pwnage (the action or fact of utterly "owning" or defeating an opponent or rival). From the entertainment world we get mic drop, which is the deliberate dropping of one's microphone after you have really nailed the performance or speech.
From the political and social spheres, the editors added bants (witty banter), deradicalization (the action or process of causing a person with extreme views to adopt more moderate positions on social and political issues), fat-shame (to mock or attempt to shame someone because they are overweight) and microaggression (an action or statement that contains indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority). Another popular term added is SJW, which stands for social justice warrior. A SJW is someone who expresses or promotes socially progressive views, but the term is only used in a derogative fashion by those that oppose those views.
In the same useless category of brain fart the editors added beer o'clock (the time when beer drinking should start), wine o'clock and awesomesauce, which is anything but. But overall, the additions are useful and reflect current language changes.