Tech Buzzwords Added to Dictionaries 144
Mark Owen writes "With technology buzzwords becoming so commonly used in daily life, Webster and Oxford have both begun to include some new terms in their latest editions. Some of their newest additions include: adware, biodiesel, codec, digicam, google (as a verb), geocaching, hacktivism, mash-up, rewriteable, ringtone, spyware, and texting."
'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe I'm wrong, I'm a better ones-and-zeros-smith than a wrodsmith.
What the hell is web-twenty? Is that the time of day when all the pot heads get off their asses and sit at their iMacs and work on their crappy Phish tribute GeoCities site with flying toasters and images of Jerry Garcia?
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:5, Informative)
Actually it's called a gerund, which is typically any noun made from appending "ing" to a verb. It's correctly a noun, as in, "Texting is fun."
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:2)
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:2)
I thought 'texting' would be a verb
Actually it's called a gerund, which is typically any noun made from appending "ing" to a verb. It's correctly a noun, as in, "Texting is fun."
What about "I am texting my friend."? So it's either a noun or a verb depending on context.
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:2)
'texting' is no more a verb than 'running'. They're both adverbs of 'do'.
I go running.
I was running.
I will go running.
That is not to say that 'text' is not a verb. It is, just like 'run' is a verb.
I run.
I text.
Thanks you, and good night.
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:2)
Do they not teach you what an adverb is in "grammar school"?
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:3, Insightful)
Texting, as in "I am texting" is simply a continuous tense (in this case, present continuous) of the verb "to text".
"I was running" and "I was texting" are both past continuous tense.
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:1)
I believe it's a side effect of slashcode's limitations. At least, I know with the beta tagging [slashdot.org] feature we can't enter "Web 2.0", it has to be "web20".
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:1)
Gerund. (Score:2)
Suspecting words that like to cross dress as other parts of speech is within understanding. But seeing is believing.
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:4, Funny)
Raelly? I never wuold have geussed.
Hey, grammar nazi (Score:1)
*smirk*
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:1)
Web 20 (Score:1)
Don't you remember? O'Reilly owns the trademark for Web 2.0 [slashdot.org]. So from now on we refer to it as Web 20, GOT IT? Web 20.
Willie: "Shinning, Lad. You want to be sued!"
Bart: "Right, the Shinning"
Re:Web 20 (Score:3, Funny)
Oooops! (Score:1)
Re:Oooops! (Score:2)
Google's representative specifically says that the use of "to google" meaning "to use the Google search engine" is appropriate. You can bet that th
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:1)
'for texting' is a prepositional phrase with the preposition 'for' and the object 'texting'. It takes a noun to be an object. 'Texting' is the name of an activity. Names are nouns. Note that I am talking about usage. As another poster stated, the word 'texting' has the form of a gerund which is a form derived from a verb that can be used as a noun. It can also be a verb. I am texting him a message right now. Some day that form may be recogni
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:1)
"Texting" isn't even a verb in your example. The only verb in that sentence is "got." "Text" would be a verb, as in "I text people." But "texting", as another poster mentioned, is a gerund.
A simple (not fool proof) test to see whether a word is a verb, would be to try replacing it with another word. "I just got an $1800 ticket for paint" makes sense (gramatically, not necissarily logically). "Paint" is obviously not a verb.
Umm... (Score:1)
The humanity.
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:1)
It's web two point oh (Score:2)
Lame joke, but that's what it is.
Re:'Texting' is a Noun? (Score:2)
Man, you got off light! She could have sent you to the principal's office and he wouldn't have been very happy with you at all. Proving some things from first principles at the principles office was probably kinda fun.
or in the new vernacular (Score:5, Funny)
If you're looking these up in the new spelling dicshunaire referenced in this previous slashdot article [slashdot.org] (over 1000 posts!):
Re:or in the new vernacular (Score:4, Funny)
adwizzle, biodizzle, codizzle, digicizzle, googizzle, gizzlecaching, hacktivizzle, mizzle-up, rewriteabizzle, ringtizzle, spywizzle, and textizzle
Re:or in the new vernacular (Score:2)
Shouldn't that be "ring ring"?
Re:or in the new vernacular (Score:2)
Euro English (Score:1)
he Conversion to Euro English...
With the implementation of the Eurodollar underway in Europe these last few years, the European Union is trying to find new ways to standardize practices in Europe.
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the EU rather than German which was the other possibility.
Conversion to European English
As part of the negotiations, Her Majesty's Government conceded that English spell
Re:Euro English (Score:2)
Autos / Möbel / usw. clever kaufen - 'clever' apparently being the new German word for wise or canny, but applied only to shopping.
It's your Heimspiel. - McDonald's promotional slogan for the World Cup.
Handy - a 'handy' is a mobile phone. Of course.
A Beamer is a projector. I suppose it's equally strange that a Beemer is a BWM in some places.
According
Potato mouse? (Score:1)
Re:Potato mouse? (Score:1)
Words in a dictionary? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Words in a dictionary? (Score:2)
And yet, another year goes by where "l33t" is once again overlooked. You keep your head up, "l33t". We're all pulling for you.
Re:Words in a dictionary? (Score:1)
Re:Words in a dictionary? (Score:2)
Buzzwords. (Score:2, Funny)
buzzwords (Score:3, Funny)
Re:buzzwords (Score:2)
I'm waiting for CowboyNeal to be added.
Re:buzzwords (Score:1)
Possibly, since the word is still tied to a single context, and not in general use, it wouldn't qualify.
Re:buzzwords (Score:2)
Re:buzzwords (Score:2)
Re:buzzwords (Score:5, Funny)
And for the next day, when it will be added again...
Re:buzzwords (Score:2)
slashdot (Score:2, Funny)
Implications of Google as a verb? (Score:1, Interesting)
IAMANAL, but I seem to have heard that if a trademark becomes a popularized verb/noun to refer to a general category of items (i.e. internet searches) it can be used by other companies as well. In this case, there could be a "Microsoft Google" coming along.
Would this be correct?
Re:Implications of Google as a verb? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Implications of Google as a verb? (Score:1)
Re:Implications of Google as a verb? (Score:2)
I dunno...
You mean we can use "We won't Microsoft You to the Poorhouse!", or "Buy From Us, and You won't be Microsofted" as our slogans and get away with it?
Re:Implications of Google as a verb? (Score:2)
Re:Implications of Google as a verb? (Score:2)
Re:Implications of Google as a verb? (Score:2)
Taken from the WP coverage [washingtonpost.com] of this news item.
So no, the definition seems specific to Google.
Re:Implications of Google as a verb? (Score:2)
Main Entry: google
Pronunciation: 'gü-g&l
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): googled; googling
Usage: often capitalized
Etymology: Google, trademark for a search engine
: to use the Google search engine to obtain information about (as a person) on the World Wide Web
Specifically refers to the Google engine, and not searching in a generic sense. Even less a gray area.
Webster (Score:2)
Nitpick: This is Merriam-Webster, not "Webster". The various American dictionaries with "Webster" in the title are mostly unrelated to each other.
(By the way -- "cybrary"? "mouse potato"? Did they get these words out of a 1995 issue of Wired?)
Paper Dictionaries (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Paper Dictionaries (Score:1, Insightful)
I for one don't pause in the middle of a game of scrabble, open google and type in the decidedly dodgy word put down on a triple word score. I pick up my trusty OED and look it up!
Re:Paper Dictionaries (Score:2)
That is what a web enabled cell phone or PDA is for. And if you don't have one on your body at all times (including sleeping) then you can just hand in your geek card on the way out the door.
Re:Paper Dictionaries (Score:2)
I recently ordered a nice hefty leather-bound dictionary. And I use it all the time when writing papers on my computer. I've personally found that it's far easier for me to move my hands a few inches and flip through the dictionary to check on a word than it is to switch from my text editor of choice to a browser, punch in my word at m-w.com (or google define:word). It's certainly a lot less distracting, too. Honestly, I never would've guessed how much easier it is to
What is this world coming to (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What is this world coming to (Score:1, Funny)
"Spit"? Is that what you kids are calling salivacation these days? I can't keep up with you younguns!
Re:What is this world coming to (Score:2, Funny)
Snake-oil-ng: standards compliant but worthless... (Score:1, Offtopic)
I for one welcome... (Score:3, Funny)
google is my dictionary (Score:4, Informative)
The 'did you mean' feature has yet to let me down.
I don't know if they intended this, but it's so reliable that my dictionary stays on the shelf these days, and I barely ever have to use online dictionaries, except when I'm trying to locate a precise definition of a word.
Re:google is my dictionary (Score:3, Informative)
define:word [google.com]
Re:google is my dictionary (Score:2)
define: [word]
Google is the Oracle.
Re:google is my dictionary (Score:2)
OED first (Score:3, Insightful)
Why both reporting the also ran?
Company name in dictionnary? (Score:1)
Do you know many company name that became an official word in the dictionnary? Is Kleenex even one? I'm pretty impressed with what Google has accomplished
Re:Company name in dictionnary? (Score:1)
Lots of people photoshop things when they edit them, regardless of if they are using adobe products.
Also, if you read the article *gasp* you'll see the title: "Google joins Xerox as a verb."
From the please-not-web2.0 dept (Score:1)
Mash-up (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Mash-up (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Mash-up (Score:2)
X vs. Y (Score:2)
So you take that components of your mash-ups and title it, you know:
Mario vs. London Philharmonic or whatever you've got going on in your track.
Unfortunately saying: "I like to compose Vs. (versus)" sounds kinda like verses or "I like to write lyrics".
I think if you avoid certain verbs before "versus" (drop, write, compose), and stick to more descriptive ones (track, mix, splice).
Shit, I like that last one.
"I really enjoy s
Why? (Score:2)
Why (Score:3, Insightful)
1) It's not really that big of a deal. This is a summertime Friday on Slashdot. There is a small possibility that there will be an article posted here with less than Earth-shattering consequences.
2) When a word appears in the dictionary, it's usage and spelling are defensible. You should no longer be considered illiterate if you write "adware" in a school report or magazine article. And the next edition of your word processor should stop trying to correct "adware" to "aware".
3) As you say, the dicti
Re:Why (Score:2)
Indeed, slow news day. The fact remains that slashdot is not the only orgainzation that makes a big deal out of words being added to various dictionaries.
Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)
Bes
Re:Why? (Score:2)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
Re:Why? (Score:2)
2) The arguements that everyone is making seem to make it clear that they don't really understand how dictionaries are created. Being in the dictionary only gives it status because a small group of people insists that there is a right way to conduct English conversation, and a wrong way. These people insist that the dictionary is
A missing verb (Score:3, Interesting)
Merriam-Webster is stuck in the 19th century (Score:2, Informative)
Is that what the kids are calling it these days? (Score:5, Funny)
I think I just accidentally cybered slashdot. crap. it all happened so fast. I just hope whatever I got is screenable
slashdotted? (Score:2)
At least google and wikipedia has a definition for it, Webster's does not.
Time for Webster's to join the 21st century.
Not the first time (Score:4, Informative)
Lightbulb
Radio
Radar
Sonar
Sonic
Radiation
Electromagnetic
Radiator
Dishwasher
Dryer
Microwave
Television
Telephone
Software
Spreadsheet
Photoshop (as verb)
Internet
Modem
Because brand names that describe a unique concept tend to become generic words, that is why we see Google used as a verb. Common trademarks used as generic words: Aspirin, Kleenex, BandAid, etc. Therefore, you can expect to see new words like...
TiVo
Re:Not the first time (Score:2)
If I'm not mistaken, Aspirin is no longer a trademark in the US. Bayer failed to protect it properly and it fell into the public domain. Hence all the new Bayer ads that don't use the word Aspirin, referring to the product as "Bayer" in hopes that it will become the new name for Aspirin.
Here in Canada, however, it's still a trademark and the ads still say Aspirin.
"Appropriate" (Score:1)
Makes perfect sense to me. I'm no trademark lawyer (or a lawyer of any kind, for that matter, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...), but as long as the new verb refers solely to using Google, does it dilute their trademark? I guess the concern is going to be whether or not the word use starts creeping and begins to mean using any
since google is now an 'official' verb (Score:3, Insightful)
just wondering
Codec? It's about time! (Score:1)
Maybe they'll add "modem" next.
FAQ (Score:2)
How about FAQ?
Scrabble needs "faq".
Re:FAQ (Score:2)
And jozxyqk. You'd be surprised how often that combination of letters comes up...
Re:FAQ (Score:2)
There are others too: http://www.hasbro.com/scrabble/pl/page.QwithoutU/
So begins the official decline... (Score:2)
Biodiesel (Score:2)
Those aren't buzzwords (Score:2)
A buzzword is a word that generates 'buzz', i.e., it's getting a lot of attention and seems to pop up everywhere, even in places where it doesn't make sense. Sometimes even the word doesn't make sense, or becomes so popular that its meaning becomes fuzzy as people who never solidly grasped its original meaning begin
Already in MacOS X's disctionary (Score:2)
Frankly this looks like rather old news...
Re:They passed over 'prepend' *again* (Score:2)