'Bling-Bling' Makes New Oxford Dictionary

Associated Press ^ | June 6, 2003 | Staff

[Prodigal Son]

Well, after all the Oxford's is a British dictionary. People here do speak slightly different and use different colloquialisms and odd expressions than one would in the States.

[southernnorthcarolina]

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.

I suspect a lot of it comes from our tendency to exaggerate. I had a cup of coffee this morning, and I told the young lady who served it that it was "wonderful." Now, did that cup of coffee literally fill me with wonder? Of course not. That used to be the sense in which the word "wonderful" was used, but now, it really means "OK." If a cup of coffee is deemed to be "wonderful," new words are invented for things that really do fill one with wonder.

Thousands of words have been similarly devalued. Most notable, to me, is "unique," which is now used to mean merely "unusual." I'm sure we'll hear with increasing frequency "unique-er" and "unique-est," and "the most unique thing I ever saw."

[WhereTheBuffaloRoam]

All very well and good but my original complaint still stands that we would be better off if not every new word has to be documented. I will stand down for now. Tell me - what does it take for words to be taken out of the dictionary? Lack of use at some point? I really don't look at the dictionary too much. Maybe I should but who has time especially with spell checker working on our behalf.

[Prodigal Son]

Tell me - what does it take for words to be taken out of the dictionary?

I don't know, but there is a group that does that as well.

I rarely use spell checker. Just can't get in the habit. I keep my Oxford's ready to hand near the computer. Dictionarys make for interesting reading sometimes. Good for helping you get to sleep when counting sheep isn't doing it for you.

For what it's worth, I've never heard the "word" bling-bling myself until I saw this thread.

[WhereTheBuffaloRoam]

What a wonderful and unique reply!! Actually, you have said it well. A lot of words indeed have been devalued much like a lot of the "good" part of our culture has since the 60's and especially since the 90's and the Clintonization of America.

[lizma]

Who is making up all these crap words????

I've read that good-bye was slang for Godspeed and the older generation at the time was just mortified.

Language evolves. Not always in the right direction.

[Prodigal Son]

Hey, you've made me think of something while we're on this topic and since you seem to care about the language being devalued, you seem a good person to ask.

What is the current American position on the words "yon" and "yonder"? Would the average American use these words? Would an anchorman use either of those while reading the news? Just curious.

[Cathryn Crawford]

That photo made me fall in love with the word wanker.

I use it regularly now.

[SoCal_Republican]

If the jewelry is really shiny do you call it 'double good bling-bling'?

[lainie]

Bling-bling pioneer Mr. T.

Mr. T inducted into bling-bling hall of fame

"His work forged a path for an entire generation of rappers to use gold chains to strengthen stereotypes of criminality, truancy and white envy."

[lainie]

I use yonder occasionally, but ahm frum tha sayouth.

[martin_fierro]

The T'inator: Translate any webpage into Mistah T-speak!

[Cathryn Crawford]

I use the word yonder everyday. I also say fixin' to, like, "I'm fixin' to get me a Moon Pie and an RC Cola."

[Genesis defender]

I didn't know a group is in charge of taking OUT dictionary entries.

What would a collection of "rejected" words look like?

[humblegunner]

Bling bump.

[WhereTheBuffaloRoam]

Well, I personally would not use the word "yon" nor can I say that I hear it use in the media but I think I have used "yonder" without embarrassment in the near past. I guess it mostly comes down to personal taste and comfort with most of these new words but sometimes I think a few are just silly. Thanks for the discussion and sorry about that "creepy Englishmen" thing. We have creepy Americans by the bucketful and heaven knows that most French are "creepy". Getting ready for the French to flame me now.

[Genesis defender]

How long will it take before the words "FReep, FReeper, and FReepmail" make the dictionary?

They've been around longer than this stupid "bling-bling" nonsense.

[Prodigal Son]

Don't know, but I read or heard it once. There is a group that decides about which ones to take out. I don't think they drop nearly as many words as they add.

[WhereTheBuffaloRoam]

I see you get your spelling from the "Southern" Oxford dictionary. Cute!!

[Prodigal Son]

Thanks for the discussion and sorry about that "creepy Englishmen" thing.

Don't worry about it. I'm an American living in Scotland.

Yonder. Yon.

This plays right into the discussion you brought up about words being added, devalued and lost in the English language. In my life, I have heard the word "yon" used by a normal person exactly once and that was in Northern Ireland. The fellow was from a rural community and he used it quite matter-of-factly, as if he used it all the time. He was a coworker and his sentence was "Do you see yon skiff? Could you pick it up with the forklift?"

Yon is the archaic and/or dialectic form of the word yonder. They are both totally legitimate words. Using them in no way reflects poorly upon a person or besmirches their background but as I found out when I left my Georgia home for the Army and the world at large, Americans outside of the South think the word yonder sounds like "hick-speak".

This is how it goes even though there's no logic, no rhyme or reason behind it. Yonder is just as legitimate as any other word. In no way can it indicate ignorance or simpleness, in fact, failing to use the word is only limiting your vocabulary. (not yours- just generally speaking)

On 9/11 the BBC made fun of President Bush's use of the word "folks". They were quite plainly looking down their noses at him even though in the sense of what he was trying to convey, folks was a totally legitimate word choice.

The way language morphs and evolves is a strange business. It's sad to see so many words go into disuse because of silly reasons like this. I would much rather see people use the word "yon" regularly than to hear the word bling-bling to often. It's actually a beautiful word as is yonder. "Yonder is trouble looking to be found", for example. It's a pity to see the word not used more widely.