'Bling-Bling' Makes New Oxford Dictionary

Associated Press ^ | June 6, 2003 | Staff

[AntiGuv]

LONDON - Khazi, minging, bling-bling?

Not some crazy new dialect, but standard British vocabulary, according to the latest edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, published Friday.

The publishers said they have added almost 6,000 new words and phrases that reflect 21st century life, including the frowner's favorite, Botox, passion-enhancing drug Viagra and sambuca, the aniseed liqueur served with a flaming coffee bean.

Among the 187,000 definitions in the latest edition, published by Oxford University Press, there is also bevvy — British slang for a beer; head-case, referring to a person who exhibits irrational behavior; and bling-bling, a reference to elaborate jewelry and clothing, and the appreciation of it.

Half-inch, Cockney rhyming slang for pinch, or steal, also makes it into the dictionary this time around.

Some of the new terms, including cut-and-paste, screensavers and search engines, reflect the growing influence of computers, while hands-free phones and phreaking, the expression for hacking into phone systems for free calls, acknowledge developments in telecommunications.

Other corporate-speak considered established enough for inclusion in the dictionary includes dot-coms, or Internet companies, and blipverts, subliminal TV adverts of just a few seconds' duration.

And J.R.R. Tolkien's fictional world in "The Lord of the Rings" is also recognized. Orcs are defined as "members of an imaginary race of ugly, aggressive human-like creatures." The dictionary says the word probably comes from the Latin orcus meaning hell, or the Italian orco, meaning monster.

Getting down to basics, the new dictionary now makes it all right to describe the khazi (toilet) as minging (disgusting).

[Poohbah]

What does "bling-bling" mean?

[Poohbah]

Never mind. Read right over it.

[martin_fierro]

Quasi-related thread:

Rap's a foreign language, judge rules

[AntiGuv]

All I know is: Most girls want a man with the bling-bling

- according to Pink

;^)

[martin_fierro]

For the Ebonically-challenged:

www.urbandictionary.com

[lizma]

The Iraqi's taught me the Brit's word "wanker".

Wonder if that one is in there?

[Willie Green]

The publishers said they have added almost 6,000 new words and phrases...

That's a lot of words to add...
I wonder how many old ones they've cut out.

[martin_fierro]

[Skywalk]

Bling-bling is American slang, but I guess they include both in the Oxford. At least I assume they do.

[abner]

www.urbandictionary.com

Shouldn't that be www.urbandictionary.com -weekly-?

[MattAMiller]

What does "bling-bling" mean?

Jewelry. There's some disagreement over whether it refers to the sound of it bouncing off the wearer's chest or the cartton sound effect of it glinting in the sun. It can refer to wealth too instead of just jewelry.

[WhereTheBuffaloRoam]

Who is making up all these crap words???? Do we really have to accept all this nonsense and put it into the dictionary? I guess we are a society that can't stay focused too long without having to interject "new" words to spice up the vocabulary. Some I can understand - the rest are just garbage which will soon pass into the "groovy" past.

[southernnorthcarolina]

[ChadGore]

"bling-bling" is the kinda thing that makes Homer Simpson go "OOoooo Shiney"(c)Homer, but has no real value. IE: A Benz hood ornamant worn around the neck of a poser. A BMW keychain caried by a guy who drives a Pacer. Diamond on hilary . . .you get the picture.

[ChadGore]

Re: I guess we are a society that can't stay focused too long without having to interject "new" words to spice up the vocabulary. Internert? Email ?

[Prodigal Son]

This is like complaing about the dawn- it gets you nowhere.
They add new words to the dictionary every year.

[Skywalk]

Guaranteed it's the cartoon sound. I remember it's first usage and it was more associated with the "shine" of jewelry, which in cartoons has that "bling" sound.

Actually it was just "bling" at first but the song that had the words "bling-bling" popularized that.

[ContentiousObjector]

gutter slang for money or merchandise or business

If you walk into a walmart and the greater says " 'come to da mart holmz... we be glad you come here to drop 'yo bling"

He is saying, "Welcome to Walmart, we appreciate your business"

If you walk into a Jewlery store and the sales hommie says

"Yo, check dis bling-bling", he is saying "please look at our merchandise"

If you get mugged on the street and the guy says "Gimme yo' bling-bling bee-yotch" you are being asked to surrender your money.

[WhereTheBuffaloRoam]

Yes I agree that new words are needed to describe things new to our culture but Bling-bling??? Come on - let them come and go without documenting the brain storm of some creepy Englishmen who lives in their mother's basement!!