'TLDR,' 'BYOD,' 'phablet' enter the Oxford Dictionary
When reading the news yesterday, I found headlines splattered with outrage over a celebrity's "twerking" -- a horrifying word in itself -- at the MTV music awards. While this is a word that only teenagers may immediately understand, a number of new additions to the Oxford Dictionary are more recognizable and have become buzzwords in today's technological and business sectors.
In the latest quarterly update of Oxford Dictionaries Online (ODO), the new words officially added to our vocabulary include phrases absorbed and often used in popular culture.
It could be the uploading of a "selfie" to social media (a self-taken photograph) while using your "phablet" (a smartphone that has a screen which is intermediate in size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet computer) to do so. After checking Facebook and finding many posts TLDR (too long, didn't read), perhaps you decide to enroll in a "MOOC" -- a massive open online course available on the Internet -- or check the smartphone you bought personally and also use at work due to "BYOD" (bring your own device) business policy.
Technology hasn't stopped here in changing our language. "Bitcoin" is now accepted to describe digital currency without the need for a central bank, and the "Internet of Things" concept is formally used to explain the evolution of the Internet to include everyday objects equipped with network connectivity.
If you have "FOMO," the fear of missing out on something important or interesting, then you might want to gloss over the latest Oxford additions here. Or perhaps a "digital detox" (a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world) is in order.
Via: The Guardian
Image credit: Oxford Dictionary Online
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com