The destruction of language

You’re and your are often misused or simply shortened to ‘ur’.

Numbers are used to replace letters, and vowels are often left out completely.

And every once in a while, a whole new word is made up.

With all these changes in the English language, the good people at Oxford have to be there to chronicle it.

Here are some of the more different words that have been added to the dictionary:

•  Blamestorming. A method of collectively finding one to blame for a mistake no one is willing to confess to. Often occurs in the form of a meeting of colleagues at work, gathered to decide who is to blame for a screw up.
•  Gaydar. A homosexual person’s ability to identify another person as homosexual by interpreting subtle signals conveyed by their appearance and interests.
•  Grrrl. A young woman regarded as independent and strong or aggressive, especially in her attitude to men or in her sexuality.
•  Threequel. The third film, book or event in a series; a second sequel.
•  Cyberslacking. Spending one’s employer’s Internet and email facilities for personal activities during working hours.
•  Lookism. Prejudice or discrimination on the grounds of appearance.
•  Ego-surfing. Searching the Internet for instances of one’s own name or links to one’s own website.
•  Meatspace. The physical world, as opposed to virtual.
•  Bromance. A close but non-sexual relationship between two men.
•  Chillax. Calm down and relax.
•  Noob. A person who is inexperienced in a particular sphere or activity, especially computing or the use of the Internet.
•  OMG. Used to express surprise, excitement or disbelief.

New words, senses, and phrases are added to Oxford dictionaries once editors have gathered enough independent evidence from a range of sources to be confident that they have widespread currency in English.