Words in the dictionary

[Anime is poison]

Alright, my first started thread will be a good one I thought up. Alright, we all know the dictionary is supposed to be a book of knowledge, and mainly of sophisticated words to know the defintions of. But through the last couple years, some words have been added that I don't feel really desirve a place in the dictionary. For example, Bootylicious and Bikini Wax were both added to Webster's Dictionary. Now I don't know about you, but I doubt I would ever want to know the definitions of any of those words. How about you? What do you think?

[animeseishi]

hhhmmm.. they are just fine with me...

[zodiak]

well the dictioanaries just want that hip lingo in their dictionaries so that it can attract the young populus into buying their dictionaries. also it gives parents help because teenagers use that language and don't know what it means. Maily they added the word to attract young people and adults with kids. And your right good thread.

[Anime is poison]

Well, why not put other hip words in there, cuz isn't there a book of Eubonics, that has a list of words pertaining to the street. And as a stupid question, is the word "ain't" in the dictionary. I'm having a bet with a friend.

[Fabala]

I believe the dictionary SHOULD evolve with the times. I may not like or use much of the slang popular today, but I don't think it should be discounted as part of our language. The dictionary IS the words of our langauge. Not just the sophisticated.

[sjøpølse]

Okay. It is good to know at first that a language does not evolve following the "class" or "dignity" of the words used but rather by the way people use it. Hence, a language is not what is written in a grammar book or a dictionary or a pronunciation book, but mainly how the locutors speak/write it. I'm not announcing the death of good spelling and proper talk, hardly pointing out that you can't always oppose to the evolution of a language. I'll talk of French, as it is the language I speak and which I have studied. Back in the late Middle-Age, the language spoken in France and surrounding areas was no more Latin, not even vulgar Latin, but an earlier form of French, mixing both Latin and celtic terms. However, the language taught at school and used at church still was Latin, considered the noble form of expression. The problem it brought was that, once "French" was accepted a language, every new word of French was then "latinized" to please the language conservators. Nonetheless, French evolved, mainly because of the low level of schooled people. If not, we could speculate that French would not exist nowadays.

Now, I know this is not quite about the same thing; still, whether you think or not those words are valuable does not mean they should not be listed as existing words. A dictionary is more of a list of words than a reference for good linguistics. I understand your dismay: I get cracked each time I hear of a grammar/orthograph reform of French, slacking on the rules and thus the subtlety of grammar (because most of the time, grammar is logical and not only a carrier of sense, but also of language history). But we can't do anything about it. Unless you build up a community of "classic" language, which will one day grow til dominance to then assimilate the "bad-speakers".

Though, remember. Both languages and locutors are fundamentaly lazy. And neologisms are important to keep up with our evolving reality. Even if it's "bikini wax". Mmm, yeah.

[Anime is poison]

Thats true, but I guess I am a fan of the modern English language I've been speaking since I was in school, and don't really like new words that are just copies of another word being used, especially like "outty" for "good bye", or "wut up cuz" for "What's up Cousin". The more slang we allow, the worse off the languages will be in my opinion, but then this worse language will then takeover the language we use today, subsigating us to a world of weird words I guess, lol. And those words will be considered proper, than life as we know will end and a peridox will occur. Ok, that may be extreming it, but maybe its not

[sjøpølse]

Thats true, but I guess I am a fan of the modern English language I've been speaking since I was in school, and don't really like new words that are just copies of another word being used, especially like "outty" for "good bye", or "wut up cuz" for "What's up Cousin". The more slang we allow, the worse off the languages will be in my opinion, but then this worse language will then takeover the language we use today, subsigating us to a world of weird words I guess, lol. And those words will be considered proper, than life as we know will end and a peridox will occur. Ok, that may be extreming it, but maybe its not

I'm as reticent to those "changes", but that is still as much of lazyness towards language as those who speak an "improper" english because of ignorance or assimilation by the lot or whatever.

And the modern english that you speak right now would most definately be viewed as weird and empoverishing by those who spoke, for instance, Middle-English, or what not.

[Anime is poison]

I hate change, why can't people just learn to accept the language for what it is. I thought it was bad when people started leaving the "R" off of words, now they barely leave the first letter on them. Oh, I'm sorry, ON EM

[~Troublesome Woman~]

I hate change, why can't people just learn to accept the language for what it is. I thought it was bad when people started leaving the "R" off of words, now they barely leave the first letter on them. Oh, I'm sorry, ON EM

Yup. I hardly ever use slang... in fact, hardly any of my friends do either. Maybe it's 'cause I live in Australia... but that can't be it, because I've heard a lot of people use it.
My family don't encorage it, so I guess I'm used to speaking, well, mostly without slang. But I do use it. Sometimes.
I agree with you though, Anime is Poison.

[zodiak]

wow this is a pretty old thread

[TodayIsMine]

the dictionary should be kept current, but it shouldn't make itself look stupid...i mean, BOOTYLICIOUS?! what the hell kind of word is that anyway? if i'm not mistaken, it means you have a nice butt....but i don't think it's necessary to put that in the dictionary...it means nothing really to me...
it just makes me sad that slangs and era terms are becoming popular enough to throw in a dictionary...

[Raven]

What I hate, is when slang terms like that get into a dictionary, only to push out some older, maybe less used words. I've tried looking up several (some of those big) words in a dictionary, but it wasn't in there. Had to search through several dictionarys to find this one elusive word, because there was no more room in the dang book for it.

[Darrmyth]

dic·tion·ar·y
n. pl. dic·tion·ar·ies

1. A reference book containing an alphabetical list of words, with information given for each word, usually including meaning, pronunciation, and etymology.
2. A book listing the words of a language with translations into another language.
3. A book listing words or other linguistic items in a particular category or subject with specialized information about them: a medical dictionary.
4. Computer Science.
1. A list of words stored in machine-readable form for reference, as by spelling-checking software.
2. An electronic spelling checker.

[Chaos Master Dark]

Slang should not be added to the dictionary.
The dictionary is used to memorize words unknown to your
vocabulary in order to sound more sophisticated.
The slang of the 21st century is destroying the use of the
dictionary. If placement of Slang in the Dictionary continues the
stupidity of the generations shall increase w/ every new generation.
And realy, How many Bosses, Teachers, and College Professers would want their workers/students to hand in a paper w/ the word Bootylicious in the text?
There used to be a word in the dictionary that used EVERY letter in the English language, now because of this Slang trash the word is no longer in the dictionary, this legendary word has been erased for a load of Raptrash(Theres another word those idiots can add).

[dragoninja]

i like to see how many bad words i could find

havent done that in awhile. ... .. . where did i put that big red book anyway

[Eris]

The slang of the 21st century is destroying the use of the dictionary.

Slang is not a modern penomoenon. There really isn't any difference in modern and historical slang usage. It's how new languages form. Slang and local expressions is the first step - caused by cultural or geographical barriers - in creating a new dialect or even a new language. It's happened before (Afrikaans -> Dutch anyone?), and it will likely happen again.

[Chaos Master Dark]

Slang is not a modern penomoenon. There really isn't any difference in modern and historical slang usage. It's how new languages form. Slang and local expressions is the first step - caused by cultural or geographical barriers - in creating a new dialect or even a new language. It's happened before (Afrikaans -> Dutch anyone?), and it will likely happen again.

I know slang is not modern, notice the words "of the 21st century".
So what your saying is that words like Bootylicious will be commonly used words? I hope humanity dies out before the stupidity of the race becomes far beyond our comprehension. I can understand that there are a lot of stupid people in the world, but a world with nothing but stupid people, as this one shall soon be, does not desirve its exsistance.

[Eris]

I know slang is not modern, notice the words "of the 21st century".
So what your saying is that words like Bootylicious will be commonly used words? I hope humanity dies out before the stupidity of the race becomes far beyond our comprehension. I can understand that there are a lot of stupid people in the world, but a world with nothing but stupid people, as this one shall soon be, does not desirve its exsistance.

"Bootylicious" may well become commonly used in some regions. What I am saying is that it's impossible to maintain one language over such a big geographical and cultural area without it crumbling into dialects and eventually languages.