Looks like the English language just got a little bit classier: just when you got autocorrect to stop changing it to "Sexton," the editors of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary have added "sexting," "man cave," and "f-bomb" to the venerable tome's list of recognized words for 2012. Next time you whip out that Merriam's app, keep a lookout for these handy new entries:
man caven. (1992): a room or space (as in a basement) designed according to the taste of the man of the house to be used as his personal area for hobbies and leisure activities.
sextingn. (2007): the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cellphone.
f-bombn. (1988): the word fuck—used metaphorically as a euphemism. (As in all things, we have Dick Cheney to thank, in large part, for this development.)
Other new words we leave as a legacy for subsequent generations include "gastropub," "e-reader," "bucket list," "earworm" (a song or melody that keeps repeating in one's mind, likely inspired by "Call Me Maybe"), "aha moment", "game changer" and "mashup."
Of course, the nearly two-centuries old American Merriam's is a little behind the times— the older, fancier Oxford English Dictionary beat already added "sexting" to its hefty repertoire last summer, along with words like "mankini," "OMG" and "jeggings." And last year, additions to Merriam's included "social media," "tweet," "bromance," "cougar" and "fist pump," all of which we can only assume are soaring to the top of third-grade spelling curriculums as we speak.
