Synopses & Reviews
'New words are the footprints of time. Just to recite some of the phrases that have become popular in the 1990s--feng shui, Generation X, jelly shoes, Netscape, Prozac, road rage, shock-jock, Twinkie defense, voice mail, warehouse club--is to fast-forward through our recent history. Now, in the second edition of The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, readers can savor a smorgasbord of new words and phrases that have been coined--or popularized--in the last ten years.
Here are hundreds of informative and intriguing articles that provide the pronunciation, definition, sample sentences, and, perhaps most important, the origin and informal history of over 2,500 words and phrases that have come into popular usage in recent years. The editors have drawn words from politics, the environmental movement, computers and technology, business, sports, and entertainment, from recent crazes such as Magic Eye art and microbreweries, politically charged terms such as tree-hugger, feminazi, lipstick lesbian, and McJob, and popular expressions such as \"the _____ from hell\" (waiter from hell, dentist from hell), \"get a life,\" and \"been there, done that.\" About 70% of the articles are new to this edition, and the repeat articles--on words included in the first edition which are still sufficiently prominent to warrant attention--have been either revised or newly written.
The Dictionary of New Words is a resource that is both useful and engaging, the first place to turn for information when faced with new words and phrases (from auto bra and Beltway Bandit to trainspotting, wormhole, and zaitech) and a gold mine of language for word lovers everywhere.'
Review
"The extensive use of citations makes this collection of neologisms fun to peruse."--William Safire, New York Times Magazine
Synopsis
New words are the footprints of time. To recite some of the phrases that have become popular in the 1990s--Generation X, Prozac, road rage, shock-jock, voice mail--is to fast-forward through our recent history. Now, in the second edition of
The Oxford Dictionary of New Words, readers can savor a smorgasbord of new words and phrases that have been coined--or popularized--in the last ten years.
Here are hundreds of intriguing, informative articles that provide the pronunciations, definitions, sample sentences, origins, and informal histories of over 2,500 new words and phrases. The editors have drawn words from politics, the environmental movement, technology, business, sports, and entertainment; politically charged terms such as tree-hugger, feminazi, and lipstick lesbian, and popular expressions such as "the ULULULULUL from hell" (waiter from hell, dentist from hell) and "been there, done that." Two-thirds of the articles are new to this edition, and the others--on still-prominent words included in the first edition--have been either revised or newly written. This useful and engaging resource is the first place to turn for information when faced with new words and phrases, and will be a gold mine of language for word lovers everywhere.
About the Author
About the Editors:Elizabeth Knowles is Managing Editor in the Quotation dictionaries group, and Julia Elliott is Senior Editor in the Thesauruses group, both at Oxford University Press, UK.
Table of Contents
Preface; Acknowledgements; Guide to the pronunciations and icons used; Introduction (how to use the dictionary); A-Z articles.