Do Cambridge Dictionary’s new words have staying power? – Wyn Drabble

Dictionary definitions for new words are confusingly varied, Wyn Drabble writes. Photo / NZME

THE FACTS

• The Cambridge Dictionary has added 6212 new words.
• Some of the new words include “skibidi,” “delulu” and “lewk”.
• A Cambridge executive claimed words are only added when it’s believed they will have “staying power”.

When I read that the Cambridge Dictionary has, in just the last year, added 6212 new words to its oeuvre, I was quite excited.

A Cambridge bigwig even said: “We only add words where we think they’ll have staying power.” So that encouraged me even more to check out the newbies; after all, who wants to use a fly-by-night vocabulary?

I wanted words I could comfortably use in normal conversations – so it wasn’t a good start as the first new word mentioned in the report I was reading was clearly not a contender. “Skibidi” has eluded me so far because I don’t engage in what I shall call the “characters emerging from toilet bowls” genre.

Besides, the dictionary definitions on offer are confusingly varied. Apparently it can mean “cool” or it can mean “bad”. To make matters even more complicated, it can be used with no real meaning, as a joke. You can, for example, say, “What the skibidi is that?” when the answer is not a character emerging from the porcelain.

So “skibidi” sounds a little loose to me, like a word you’re having when you’re not having a word. So it’s wiped from my keepers list.

Somehow I don’t think I’ll be embracing “delulu” either. I admit it has a catchy appeal but I feel there’s nothing wrong with its mothership, “delusional.” For the most part, I tend to avoid abbreviations so I’m eschewing “delulu” in the same way I avoid “Xmas” when writing.

I’ll have to eliminate “inspo” as well because my lips – though ageing – can still manage “inspiration”.

Nor am I fussed about “lewk”. Apparently it’s a variation of “look” applied to a particular style, fashion or outfit, particularly one that is attractive or impressive. I find no problem with the original so that one’s down the toilet too.

I know I’m already emerging as a pompous and curmudgeonly old pedant but there are more to review so there is a chance that might change.

“Broligarchy” (a small group of men, especially wealthy and powerful ones, who want or have political clout) won’t change my stance.

I’ve never been a user of “bro” but I have had it directed at me. In a classroom, no less. A young pupil once handed me his book for checking. “Is this good enough, bro?” he asked. “Don’t address me that way, young man,” I said adopting my stern pose of lowering my spectacles and peering over them. “It’s MISTER Bro to you.”

“Sorry, Mister Bro,” he replied.

Nor will “tradwife” (a stay-at-home married woman who, besides cooking and cleaning, posts on social media) sway me.

And I see no need for “work spouse” (a person with whom someone has a close but not romantic relationship at work) and I’m not a fan of transferring “snackable” from food to content that you can read or view in a short time, a possible reflection of our diminishing attention spans.

From the article I read, the only two I’m even lukewarm about are “Gen Alpha” (because every generation needs to be named) and “mouse jiggler” (because it paints quite a vivid image of an online time-waster).

But despite the couple of glimmers of hope, it looks as though I have to confirm that I am firmly in the camp labelled pompous and curmudgeonly old pedants. I’m clearly sticking with words we already had, words like “pompous” and “curmudgeonly”.

So passionate am I about this, so firm in my resolve not to use these newbies, that if you hear me uttering any of the terms I have mentioned, you can feel free to bop me over the head with an inflatable rubber skibidi.