Happy Anniversary, CED

Quick! The latest Collins English Dictionary hits the shelves any time now. It's the 30th Anniversary Edition, no less. Perhaps they'll be doing signed copies. I'm off to Waterstones presently to check it out.
I imagine my life will be much fuller by close of play today.



New words listed in the 2009 edition include:
"hey-ho" (and its variant spelling "heigh-ho"): an exclamation of weariness, disappointment, surprise or happiness.
"mwah": a superficial air kiss.
"meh": an exclamation of not caring or of being disappointed.

The popularity of words such as the examples above is being attributed to a booming online community; certainly, Duncan Black, one of the dictionary's editors, thinks social networking sites are largely responsible as we attempt to find written ways to communicate visual expressions.

Tony Thorne, a language consultant at King's College London, agrees: "A lot of internet communication is written speech, or transliterated speech. Social media is all about nudging and poking. It's a more amplified conversation."

Meh.

Read more at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8231771.stm