Today’s launch of a new edition of Britain’s most esteemed dictionary features terms such as sexting, retweeting, and even the famously revealing mankini swimsuit popularized by the character Borat from the film.
Among the 400 new entries in the centenary edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary are gastric band and the term cyberbullying, which refers to using electronic communication to intimidate someone.
Sexting is characterized as “the transmission of sexually explicit images or messages through mobile phone,” and retweeting means “to repost or forward a message on Twitter.”
The definition of mankini describes it as a “men’s one-piece bathing garment with a T-back”—a description that fans of Borat: Cultural learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan will recognize from British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s choice of audacious, green swimwear.
Angus Stevenson, the editor of the new 12th edition, expressed in his blog, “These additions continue the legacy of a dictionary that has always aimed to be progressive and current.”
by Robbo Green
