The inclusion of ‘skibidi’ and ‘tradwife’ in the Cambridge Dictionary means it has been forced to remove ‘self-respect’ from its pages.
Having once again sullied the hallowed pages of its dictionary by including vapid slang popularised by social media cretins, Cambridge University Press has omitted definitions of honour and dignity from its latest edition.
Lexicographer Julian Cook said: “We had room. We could easily have squeezed ‘self-respect’ in on page 948. But sadly, the word has lost all meaning to us.
“We studied its definition for hours but we couldn’t make sense of it. Apparently it’s all about having an internal sense of worth that isn’t dependent on external validation. That won’t trend on TikTok, fam!
“Instead we’ve crammed in words like ‘delulu’ and ‘broligarchy’ that have at least another three months of common usage. If that comes at the cost of this so-called intrinsic value, it’s a price worth paying.
“Language is constantly evolving and it’s our job to reflect that. I can already see us cutting words like ‘reliable’, ‘learning’ and ‘resource’ from next year’s dictionary.”
17-year-old James Bates said: “Nothing kills off slang quicker than academic endorsement. We’re going to have to make up new bollocks now.”
Of course.
Oh lordy. Tell me trump didn't get his hands into the Cambridge University Press and omitted definitions of honor and dignity from its latest edition. This has him written all over it.
ReplyDeleteSurprised "covfefe" hasn't been added in there, since Trump made it up. Jx
DeleteAh! I must refrain from writing a scholarly dissertation about the pros and cons of adding 'slang' to a dictionary! I'm a Sociologist by degree and Mister Proxima is an advanced language nerd. Nothing sets us off faster like a pair of chittering squirrels than the place of living language within society!
ReplyDeleteYou should see what young Japanese people have done to the language! They decided to drop off the last half or 2/3s of words, the very heart of the word where the honor and history is found, when derived from Kanji characters. O-ka-san (honored mother) is now reduced to "Oka" think "diminutive mother", not affectionate endearment "mum" because that word already exists as "Haha". Ergo, I can only speak Japanese to people born before 1996. I can barely parse the meaning of what a young Japanese Millennial or younger person is saying.
The Japanese are beyond comprehension to me, full stop. Jx
DeletePS I love vocabulary, too - and simply cannot understand why people think inventing mangled "portmanteau" words is a substitute for actually learning and using perfectly good words that already exist in the English language...
Also, thanks for the heads up on the spammer on my page. I thought some sorry soul was trying to find an "in" with the esteemed bloggerati.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, dear! I have no idea what that robot is all about, to be honest... Jx
DeleteI don't know what to make of it really, but I make a point of using full stops and comas in text messages. And proper words.
ReplyDeleteSx
"Eats shoots and leaves" comes to mind. Jx
DeleteThe Mash tells it like it is
ReplyDeleteLearn the language and find joy in it, even if, as in my case you can't spell it.
At least you don't just make up words to be trendy. Jx
Delete