English is a language that is ever changing. Each year new words are added to books that form the basis of English vocabulary, books commonly referred to as dictionaries. Words are added according to their need and their popularity at a given time. Just like each year, 2015 also saw many additions to the English vocabulary. Some were really smart, some were really needed, while some were just plain dumb. In this list we look at 15 of the weirdest and the coolest words added to the Oxford Dictionary (the most popular and trusted dictionary in the world) in the year 2015:
1- Mic drop: How many times does one think that they have absolutely owned the stage, whether it be after a heated debate or after giving a splendid performance. And you just feel like walking off from the stage in a legendary fashion. You might feel like just throwing away you microphone thus symbolizing your victory over the stage. Well they now have an actual term for such an action, and it is called mic drop. The word is defined as ‘a literal instance of deliberately dropping or tossing aside one’s microphone at the end of a performance or speech one considers to have been particularly impressive’.
2- Awesomesauce: Are you tired of using the same words to regard something as good or excellent? Are words like awesome or cool just too main stream for you? Well this just might be THE word you are looking for! Say hello to awesomesauce. Awesomesauce, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, means ‘extremely good or excellent’. An example of its use in a sentence can be: “Dude, that race was awesomesauce”!
3- Weak sauce: So what if you are disappointed about something and you don’t think is cool. What if something didn’t live up to the hype? What should one say then? Well I have the perfect word for this situation, the antonym of awesome sauce: weak sauce. According to Oxford Dictionary, weak sauce is defined as: ‘Something that is of a poor or disappointing standard or quality’. For example, “That concert last night was weak sauce, the crowd was dead.”
4- Banter or bants: A word that has been around for quite some time now, and is specially popular in the United Kingdom; banter only recently got included as an actual word in the Oxford Dictionary. Its definition: ‘The playful and friendly exchange of teasing remarks’. For example when someone is getting roasted in a group chat or even when a group of friends get together and share light jokes then that is what is called good ‘banter’. A shorter version of banter is the word ‘bants’.
5- NBD: Informal abbreviations have ruled the internet ever since its inception. The idea of using a few letters in place of complete sentences in everyday situations is clearly very popular in the world. It started off with words like LOL, LMAO, ROFL, TBH and now the most recent addition to the list, NBD (No Big Deal). Will NBD get as popular as the others on this list? Only time will tell.
6- Rly: This one was a surprise, rly! Apparently, someone was so lazy that they actually thought of a way to shorten an already short word and made it official by somehow managing to get it added in The Oxford Dictionary.
7- SJW stands for social justice warrior. The Oxford Dictionary defines this word as: ‘a person who expresses or promotes socially progressive views.’
Now this is an awesomesauce title to have!
8- Manspreading: ‘the practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats.’ Though this is definitely an act that is prevalent enough in society for it to have its own name but the thing about this is, the culprit isn’t necessarily always a man. Sometimes, in fact a lot of times, the culprits are aunties or older women as well. So I definitely think they were a bit sexist with this one.
9- Mx: ‘used (in the same way as Mr, Miss, Mrs, Ms etc.) before a person’s surname or full name as a gender-neutral title’. 2015 was a very important year for the whole LGBT community. And the English vocabulary also progressed in making society more appropriate for LGBTs. The word was introduced in the Oxford Dictionary which allowed people to address themselves as Mx if they wanted to go for a gender neutral title rather than being referred to as Mr. or Ms.
10- Hangry: Now this is a word that everyone in the world can relate to. Whether you’re a toddler who hasn’t yet been given his daily feed, or you’re in your teens and you are out of snacks to eat or even if you are an adult working in your office and you’ve missed lunch due to heavy work load; everyone in this world has at least once in their life been both hungry and angry at the same time. Well now there’s an actual word for such a feeling: hangry (a blend of hungry and angry). Its official definition is ‘being bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger’. So next time when you feel hungry and angry at the same time just say “I’m really Hangry”!
11- Cheffy: Ever wanted to call someone a chef because they have good cooking skills but they’re not actually a professional chef? Well now you can! Introducing the word cheffy.
Cheffy as defined by the oxford dictionary means Relating to or characteristic of a chef. Not only people but actions or interests can also be cheffy for example: “You have a cheffy name”, or “he has cheffy habits”.
12- Melty: The name says it all. Melty is something that is melting or partially melted; is soft or semi-liquid in consistency. Example: “That ice cream is really melty!”
13- Rage quit: Rage quit, a word well known in the gaming community but not too popular in other aspects of life, has officially been recognized by the Oxford Dictionary which defines it as: ‘to angrily abandon an activity or pursuit that has become frustrating, especially the playing of a video game.’
14- Pwned, pwnage: When people started using this word no one would have actually thought that it would ever get recognized as an official word of the English vocabulary, but here it is today, in all its glory! The word pwned or pwnage is defined as ‘the action or fact of utterly defeating an opponent or rival.’ It is often used by people when they defeat their friend at anything competitive. For example: “Dude, you just got pwned at this game”!
15- Mkay: “umm, okay”. The two words that annoy everyone when they are seen as a reply to a well thought out lengthy text message. Well now, there is an even shorter way to annoy others. Instead of writing “umm, okay” you can just merge the two words together and you get “mkay”. It is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as a non-standard spelling of OK, representing an informal pronunciation.