#767 dictionary

If you looked through the dictionary today, there would be words you knew and some that you did not.  So it should be no surprise to me that some of the new words added to the dictionary seem obvious, while others I have never heard of.  Still, it makes me feel out of touch when words are dictionary-worthy, yet foreign to me.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary added 150 new words to its published database this year.  Many of them relate to the growing influence of technology, including "selfie" as described in yesterday's blog.  Other overdue new words:  social networking, hashtag and crowdfunding.  Words from last year seem so natural now:  cloud computing, e-reader, bucket list, aha moments, man cave or life coach.

But words (even their concepts) that were new to me:

> freegan (an activist who scavenges for free food in waste receptacles in stores and restaurants as a means of reducing consumption of resources)

> steampunk (science fiction dealing with 19th-century societies dominated by historical or imagined steam-powered technology)

> dubstep (a type of electronic dance music)

> gamification (the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something [a task] so as to encourage participation)

Maybe you can use the list of new words to help push your thinking to a new dimension.  If dubstep music is the hot new thing, can you incorporate some of it into your advertising?  Can you gamify your process to entice your staff to complete their paperwork or others to do tasks you need them to do?  

The dictionary may seem old-school, but it may pay off for you to allow Merriam-Webster do the trend watching for you!

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com

@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com

Sources:

'Yoopers' thrilled to join dictionary by The Associated Press in the Telegraph Herald, May 20, 2014, p. A1

'F-bomb' makes it into mainstream dictionary by Leanne Italie for The Associated Press in the Telegraph Herald, 2013