CAUTION !! If Chris Strolin sees this, he's likely to start a whole new project.

Thanks for that, Jerry! I only wish I would have seen it when people were submitting words. Can anyone here imagine what word, not currently in a regular dictionary (specialty dictionaries don't count, I assume), that I would have submitted?

I don't know that it would have counted, though, as these seem to be proposed words. Yet, I am proposing it!

Interesting that "ginormous" received the prize for first place. It might be new in the USA but it's been common slang in the UK for at least 30 years.

I wonder whether my "catapostrophe" made it?

I agree Richard, 'ginormous' is in such common use here that to be honest I thought it already was in the dictionary. It seems a perfectly reasonable word to me and i certainly use it. Of course, every year the popular press tell us of new words and phrases that will appear in new editions of dictionaries and I invariably find them absurd. I'm never sure if this is due to them being silly examples of words or me just getting old and stodgey.

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I'm never sure if this is due to them being silly examples of words or me just getting old and stodgey.

I vote for option B.

You would!!

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Originally posted by jerry thomas:
CAUTION !! If Chris Strolin sees this, he's likely to start a whole new project.

Nope, never fear. In the past few months, The OEDILF has expanded to include proper names (not one appears in the OED) including rock groups and TV shows, idioms (which do appear there, and elsewhere, but not with their own entries), slang terms, and other categories of words which, sadly, cause considerable consternation on the parts of those who still hold out hope of being alive for the Z's, but the items listed in this link fall under the category of "Sniglets." As such, they are one of the few areas of the English language that we don't cover. The reason is, naturally, that they aren't part of the English language. By definition, a "sniglet" is a word that should exist but doesn't.

Along similar lines, we just recently discovered that the perfectly acceptable "binky" (or "binkie"), which is a very commonly known term (in the States, anyway) for a baby's pacifier, does not exist in ANY dictionary we can find. To say that this strikes us as odd is an understatement. "Blankie," for a baby's blanket, is likewise nowhere to be found. To become a part of The OEDILF, a word must appear is some reputable dictionary somewhere but we may be making an exemption for "binky" shortly.

May I assume that you have binkies in the U.K.?

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Along similar lines, we just recently discovered that the perfectly acceptable "binky" (or "binkie"), which is a very commonly known term (in the States, anyway) for a baby's pacifier, does not exist in ANY dictionary we can find. To say that this strikes us as odd is an understatement.

May I assume that you have binkies in the U.K.?

I've never heard of the term over here. What you call "pacifiers" we call "dummies", but we don't call them "binkies".

Another baby-related difference: what you call "strollers" we used to call "pushchairs", but we now call them "buggies".

Pacifiers are also called "foolers" in the US.

The Internet is an incredibly infinite information source. From some hidden corner of the Internet I found that "doad" is another word for pacifier; also pronounced "doadie."

When they were in vogue in my own household -- early sixties -- we called them "chupones (singular chupón) because we lived where Spanish is spoken by most people. chupar translates to "to suck."

Well, I have had 3 kids and have worked in health care (though not specifically with children) all my life, and I have never heard of pacifiers being called either "binkies" or "foolers." I wonder if they are regionalisms or if I am just sheltered (don't answer that! ).

As for "sniglet," I find sites and dictionaries describe it differently. Some take it very seriously, as CJ does, as a word that should appear in the dictionary, but doesn't. In fact, one site said, "If you think about it, the word sniglet itself was a sniglet at one time." Yet, other sites seem to take sniglets lightly as a humorous made-up word. Is it both? I note that it isn't in the online OED.

Binkies are alive and well in the South... though my children were done with them by 6 months! Nothing worse than a 3-year old with a pacifier in its mouth..

Rich Hall and Sniglets... they are hilarious! My favorite being:

Bovilexia (bo vil eks' e uh) - n. The uncontrollable urge to lean out the car window and yell "Moo!" every time you pass a cow.

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Originally posted by jerry thomas:
From some hidden corner of the Internet I found that "doad" is another word for pacifier; also pronounced "doadie."

You are perfectly correct Jerry, well done. I was always brought up to call it a 'dummy' and I've never heard of 'binky' at all. The word 'doadie' is commonly used in the Manchester area, which is where my wife is from. We were living in Scotland when our first child arrived and needless to say they'd never heard of it before either so when my wife phoned me at work and left a desperate message that she couldn't find the 'wains' (baby's) doadie, it caused all sorts of amusement. I was called 'Doad' from that day on. It has proved to be a nickname with a great deal of variety involved. When Princess Diana was having a relationship with Dodie Al Fayed I gained a certain noteriety; when we felt very intelligent and educated we developed the Latin sounding version 'Doadus Wanus Kanobus' and when people decided to be a little more insulting it became 'Dodie's only got one knobe'. I will leave it to you to work out what that was supposed to mean.

i see they've just added CHAV to the dictionary- a word i hate as it seems so judgemental about working class people! Maybe I'm being stodgy? xx

Technically, by virtue of having grown up in Chatham, I'm a Chavette... I get a certain amount of ironic street cred amongst my friends for this, since I am anything but the stereotype of a Chavette!

I haven't heard of this word "chav," but I just read about it on Quinion's site. According to Quinion, it comes from the gypsies, as the Romany for "child" is chavi. Also the Romany word for "prostitute" is similar, charver.

However, I am a little confused. If it is to be a description for "uneducated delinquents" and the "underclass," how can they afford fashionable or Burberry clothes? Here in the U.S. those who wear Burberry tend to be more in the upper-middle class or even the upper class. We recently had a provost of a prestigious university speak to us...she is highly educated and considered in the upper class; she was carrying a Burberry bag. It doesn't make sense to me. Also, on Quinion's site many of the examples given were for women (e.g., "blue mottled thighs"); is this a sexist term?

I was also a little taken aback by the Website (ChavScum) that Quinion linked to. Chav really seems to be creating a divisiveness. Is that the case?

Other UK words for "chav" seem to abound, such as Neds, Townies, Kevs, Charvers, Steeks, Spides, Bazzas, Yarcos, Ratboys, Kappa Slappers, Skangers, Scutters, Janners, Stigs, Scallies, Hood Rats, etc.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Kalleh,

We spoke about chav in the Year of the Chav thread.

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a word i hate as it seems so judgemental about working class people! Maybe I'm being stodgy?

No, I completely agree, hepburn26 (hello by the way!) First of all, people with money can lack taste and personality (cf nouveau riche) : as the site points out, look at the likes of Britney and Christina - and I knew a couple of well-born people at university who were embarrassingly tacky and could clear a room on entering it in two minutes flat.

Second, and more important, the people I think of when I hear the word are not working class at all - they're more 'career benefits' types, who wouldn't dream of looking for work when they can get handouts. Sadly these people do exist, and they make life all the harder for genuine working class people who just have the misfortune to be temporarily out of work due to redundancy or whatever, as they all get lumped together as 'dole scum'.

And of course, the clue is in the title: working class people work. It constantly sickens me how 'working class' is used as a descriptor for anyone who isn't middle class or above, no matter how they live their lives. The working classs have a proud heritage on which this country was built (while the aristocracy just sat and played the piano), and we don't need this kind of insult.

</rant>

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We spoke about chav in the Year of the Chav thread.

Thanks, Arnie. Two things strike me about that thread. First, I miss Jheem! Secondly, Quinion's citation must have come out since that time as he clearly gives the etymology to both chav and chavi.

Now that I have paid a little more attention to the original article that Arnie posted, I clearly don't understand the word. Believe me, trailer trash, the American word that the article linked it to, does not mean that people wear fashionable clothing with prominent logos or Burberry (as Quinion says). Trailer trash (another word I hate; I know some fine people who happen to live in trailers) wear run-down jeans and no shoes. I don't understand what the English mean by chav.

Yes, I Michael Quinion's article appeared after I had originally posted. I don't think trailer trash is necessarily a direct 'translation' for chav. It appears to be a uniquely British phenomenon.

I know that Burberry suffered a drop in their UK sales this year as apparently their more regular customers deserted them for fear of being linked with chavs; their overseas sales, however, held up OK.

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Now that I have paid a little more attention to the original article that Arnie posted, I clearly don't understand the word. Believe me, trailer trash, the American word that the article linked it to, does not mean that people wear fashionable clothing with prominent logos or Burberry (as Quinion says). Trailer trash (another word I hate; I know some fine people who happen to live in trailers) wear run-down jeans and no shoes. I don't understand what the English mean by chav.

I was listening to a discussion in a radio magazine programme recently and the convesation turned to chavs. Apparently, the distinguishing mark of chavs is that they aspire to designer gear, but most can't afford the genuine article, so they buy "rip-off" cheapo copies from dodgy market traders or "stuff that fell of the back of a lorry" from equally dodgy "blokes in pubs". Those "Burberry" jackets and "Rolex" watches will probably not stand more than a cursory glance from a distance of closer than ten feet or so.

Okay, Di, that makes more sense to me. Still, I don't think we have an equivalent word to "chav," do we, Americans?

Arnie, all I can say is that Burberry is extremely popular here in Chicago...and especially in the affluent suburbs.

Probably the closest the Americans have to a well-known chav is CJ's inamorata, Britney Spears. She would fit in well with British chavs.

These are new words that are in dictionaries, as cited by Bierma in his language column:

Analyzation - a combination of analysis and rationalization, connoting excess, as in "Don't ruin the movie with your analyzations." (MWC and AHD)

Carefuller - a comparative form of "careful." A clang in the kitchen will elicit, "Be carefuller!" (MWC)

Complexly - adverb, meaning in a complex way. From the prestigious New Yorker -- "... the most complexly intelligent and sophisticated, and yet the most keenly enthusiastic, study of the life and work taken together."(MWC, AHD, NOAD)