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Home / Lifestyle

There's a word for that? Yep, certainly is ... now

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28 Aug, 2015 08:36 AM3 mins to read

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Hangry is now actually a word. Photo / Thinkstock

Hangry is now actually a word. Photo / Thinkstock

People are offending fellow commuters by manspreading, revelling in bants with their friends at beer o'clock and having a brain fart while talking about the Grexit - but it's all NBD.

Those are just some of the 1000 new words added to OxfordDictionaries.com in its latest quarterly update, which reveals trends in the use of language.

New entries include "manspreading", when a man sits with his legs wide apart on public transport, encroaching on other seats, "bants" for banter and "NBD", an abbreviation of "no big deal".

"Beer o'clock" and "wine o'clock", describing the appropriate time of day to start drinking the beverages, and "brain fart", a temporary lapse or failure to reason correctly, have also been added to the online dictionary.

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"Hangry", an adjective used to show feelings of anger or irritability as a result of hunger, also appears.

Topical news terms have soared in popular usage.

"Grexit" and "Brexit", referring to the possible departure of Greece and Britain from the European Union, and "deradicalisation", the action of causing a person with extreme views to adopt more moderate ones, are also included in the update.

Other additions include "bruh", describing a male friend, and "pocket dial", meaning to accidentally call someone while your phone is in a pocket.

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New words, senses and phrases are added to OxfordDictionaries.com once editors have gathered enough independent evidence from a range of sources to be confident that they have widespread currency.

But they do not get into the Oxford English Dictionary unless continued historical use can be shown.

Oxford Dictionaries senior editor Fiona McPherson said the addition of slang words was not a dumbing down of English, but showed "creative" use of language.

New words

Discover more

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• awesomesauce, adj.: (US informal) extremely good; excellent

• cakeage, n.: (informal) a charge made by a restaurant for serving a cake it has not supplied

• fur baby, n.: a person's dog, cat, or other furry pet animal

• Mx, n.: a title used before a person's surname or full name by those who wish to avoid specifying their gender or by those who prefer not to identify themselves as male or female

• rage-quit, v.: (informal) angrily abandon an activity or pursuit that has become frustrating, especially the playing of a video game

• rando, n.: (informal) a person one does not know, especially one regarded as odd, suspicious, or engaging in socially inappropriate behaviour

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• spear phishing, n.: the fraudulent practice of sending emails ostensibly from a known or trusted sender to induce targeted individuals to reveal confidential information

- PA

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