People have been bemoaning the death of the English language for some time but it appears we’ve reached a point where that saying actually holds some weight because Merriam-Webster has added a bunch of new words to its online dictionary that’ll make you go “why?”
A total of 533 new words were added and a bunch of them made some sense, such as “haircut” and “deep state.” But for some unholy reason, Merriam-Webster decided to label a bunch of abbreviations as official dictionary entries, such as “vacay,” “sesh,” “inspo,” and the absolute worst one, “solopreneur” (which is a solo entrepreneur).
I get that the English language adapts and evolves over time as it has done over the last millennium, but are abbreviations for “vacation,” “session,” and “inspiration” really necessary?
Not every butchered word or stupid saying needs to be added into the dictionary you know, Merriam-Webster. Stop trying to make “sesh,” “vacay” and other abbreviations happen. It’s not going to happen.
Aside from the questionable addition of abbreviations, there are a bunch of new words that throw up raised eyebrows but sort of make sense.
New words like “escape room,” “free solo,” “Bechdel test” and “coulrophobia” (an abnormal fear of clowns, undoubtedly brought up by Joker and It Chapter Two) have been floating around the pop-culture atmosphere so why not make it official.
Can’t quite explain the inclusion “pickleball” though.
On the other end of the spectrum, Merriam-Webster also added in a few long overdue words about race and identity. “They” and “them” is now an official gender-neutral pronoun, and there’s also “inclusive” and “colourism.”
But the best (or worst depending on your mileage) addition to the online dictionary by far is “dad joke,” so get all those puns out of your system because it’s all legit now. Just don’t write them down with a broken pencil, it’s pointless (sorry).
Anyway, check out some of the new Merriam-Webster words here. Don’t expect any chemistry related words because they knew those wouldn’t get a reaction (again, sorry).