In ten years we might not even think twice about these, but for now, they’re pretty hilarious. ICYMI, Merriam-Webster went nuts and added some very of-the-moment words to their dictionary. ‘ICYMI’ happens to be one of them, along with ‘FOMO’ and ‘TMI’ to a name a few.
According to TechCrunch, Merriam-Webster says they have added over 1,400 words including ‘athleisure’ (think: Ivy Park), ‘revenge porn’ and ‘hella.’
In regards to how these words are chosen, Merriam-Webster’s website says, “The new entries and senses offer a kind of snapshot of how exactly our language expands. It doesn’t happen quickly—we monitored many of these words for years before they’d met our criteria for entry—and it’s pushed by various fields and endeavors.”
Others include ‘wacky tobacky’ (as in that phrase our parents use to describe marijuana), ‘microbead’ and, perhaps the most relatable, ‘nomophobia,’ or fear of being without a cell phone. Laugh it up, people. We did this to ourselves.
Only a few short years ago in 2011, people were flipping out over new dictionary additions like ‘cougar’ and, believe it or not, ‘social media.’
The Daily Texan also mentions, around that same time, the Oxford English Dictionary added ‘tweet,’ ‘retweet’ and ‘sext’ to their books. My, how far we’ve come.
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