"Muffin top" has made the OED

[Mr_Ben]

It's also made it into the Macmillan online dictionary! Bingo wings hasn't made the big show yet, but it's on it's way too.

I saw the latest OED additions in this Guardian article, did you know that heart is now a verb? I heart good grammar! Searching for the article also led me to this one, about what seems like a very interesting google tool.

Do you teachers ever send your students to Urban dictionary? It's a great way to get asked a dozen embarrassing questions about ridiculous imaginary sex acts made up by infantile teenagers, which I generally try to avoid but on the other hand I try and encourage my students to read and interact with authentic language and sometimes "official" dictionaries aren't enough. Do you use it? Recommend it? Avoid it?

 

[SanMar]

It's also made it into the Macmillan online dictionary! Bingo wings hasn't made the big show yet, but it's on it's way too.

I saw the latest OED additions in this Guardian article, did you know that heart is now a verb? I heart good grammar! Searching for the article also led me to this one, about what seems like a very interesting google tool.

Do you teachers ever send your students to Urban dictionary? It's a great way to get asked a dozen embarrassing questions about ridiculous imaginary sex acts made up by infantile teenagers, which I generally try to avoid but on the other hand I try and encourage my students to read and interact with authentic language and sometimes "official" dictionaries aren't enough. Do you use it? Recommend it? Avoid it?

Age group is a pretty important factor here. What students are you talking about?

 

[freezeframe]

Do you teachers ever send your students to Urban dictionary?

No. Unless they know enough English to distinguish between what's a joke entry and what's a more widely used word. A lot of words in the urban dictionary are simply not widely known, even if they are highly rated. Also, unless they're like 17, talking in teenager/internet slang... ugh!

My tuttee sometimes says things he finds on the Internet that make me go "wtf?!"

 

[Mr_Ben]

Age group is a pretty important factor here. What students are you talking about?

Very true. I teach adults, probably 80% of them are over 25.

 

[Tdol]

UrbanDictionary has a lot of rubbish in it, but it also has some real gems. It is also a good place to look up slang, so why not send students there as long as age, cultural, institutional, etc, restrictions don't apply?

 

[SanMar]

Very true. I teach adults, probably 80% of them are over 25.

If you have students that are interested then sure, so long as they have an idea of what sort of content is on there. Although I don't think it would be such a great idea at the beginner level, you might have to draw out diagrams to facilitate the explanation. ;-)

Personally I had never heard of this site until a month ago, nor the word I looked up. I'm an extremely visual thinker so if I read it I see it in clear almost photographic detail, this was not a bonus!

 

[birdeen's call]

There doesn't seem to be much to be done sometimes other then go to UB. I've encoutered words that seem to be used on both sides of the ocean and aren't to be found in any traditional dictionary. This is strange to me -- I would think UB should not be necessary in such cases.

 

[Tdol]

UrbanDictionary can update faster, which is a strength, but the vast majority of stuff on the site is made-up, which is what traditional dictionaries try to avoid by looking for multiple sources of words, etc.

 

[freezeframe]

UrbanDictionary can update faster, which is a strength, but the vast majority of stuff on the site is made-up, which is what traditional dictionaries try to avoid by looking for multiple sources of words, etc.

Also a lot of the words are brief fads because of some show or news story, etc. And while they're popular for a few weeks, they don't last. So, they shouldn't be in a dictionary. The neologisms that prove to "stick" do make it into dictionaries now, which is great.


PS when santorum makes it into Webster's I'll be totally stoked! look it up at your own risk!

 

[Tdol]

I remember reading that the word squarial was included in one dictionary, the OED possibly, just two weeks before the company was taken over and the system dropped. Holding back on words makes sense, and now we have sources like UrbanDictionary that can be updated in seconds, we have the best of both worlds.