Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Twin's top 10 weird and wonderful Oxford English Dictionary entries

By Beth Hepple; News broke today that an emoji was crowned ‘word of the year 2015’ by the Oxford Dictionary. Unfortunately, this is not something that we can say we agree with and there is uproar online with Twitter and Facebook users letting their opinions be heard. This isn’t the first time the dictionary gods have had us all discussing the ins and outs of the English Language though. Remember that time they added the word ‘chav’ and there was a national uproar in the UK? Even last year, the word of the year was ‘vape’ to coincide with the popularity of E-Cigarettes and who could forget 2013’s entry? Yes, that’s right, ‘selfie’ was the word we were all saying back in 2013 and this is one that has stuck around, with many Instagram feeds clogged with make-up selfies, funny selfies, dog selfies and such like.

One thing can be said for those guys over at the Oxford Dictionary, they like to get us talking about language. We took a look at some of the entries in the weird and wonderful section of their website and, for your amusement; we bring to you, our top 10 entries and their meanings.

10.Skycap – A porter at an airport.
9. Noctambulist – A sleepwalker.



8. Netizen - A habitual or keen user of the Internet.
7. Floccinaucinihilipilification - The action or habit of estimating something as worthless (a word generally only quoted as a curiosity)
6. Hoddy-noddy – A foolish person.
5. Absquatulate - To leave somewhere abruptly.
4. Cybersquatting - The practice of registering well-known names as Internet domain names, in the hope of reselling them at a profit.



3. Blatherskite - A person who talks at great length without making much sense.
2. Puddle jumper – A small, light aircraft which is fast and highly manoeuvrable and used for short trips.
1. Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis - An invented term said to mean ‘a lung disease caused by inhaling very fine ash and sand dust’, but rarely used except for its curiosity value.




We have to say, we can’t think of many times that these would be dropped into conversation. It would be much easier to call a sleepwalker, well, just that. Who’s ever heard of a Noctambulist anyway?

Have you used any of the words on our list? Or do you have a favourite word of your own that you would like to share? We would love to hear your thoughts on Twitter and Facebook.

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