Mid. ‘Grammable. Bussin‘. These words and 687 more are more than just slang. According to Miriam-Webster’s Dictionary, they are official.
Many people consider Webster’s Dictionary the source for all the best and most formal words, making it a common basis for essay writers. They’ve always included slang within their book, but as of September of 2023 over 690 new words have been added to the official book with many of them being informal words.
One catching many eyes is the term cromulent, meaning something is acceptable or satisfactory. Some may be confused as to where on earth this word even came from and the answer is rather interesting, it originates in a Simpson’s episode. More specifically it was a made-up “nonce sounding” word made for the episode called “Lisa the Iconoclast” from 1996. It may seem ludicrous to add such a word to the dictionary, but it was inevitably decided the word had enough of a hold to become official after being used by others. Examples have been found in the name of a Shakespeare Company, The Cromulent Shakespeare Company in Minneapolis, MN.
A word shocking to find that was not considered official by the dictionary previously is a West African dish known as jollof rice. Of course not every single dish needs to be listed as a word in a dictionary, and it’d be extremely unnecessary to do so. The interesting thing is this is not a phrase relating to a dish or the creation of one, but rather just a long-existing cultural dish that was deemed important enough by Merriam-Webster to be put in their dictionary. It is a rather delicious dish of rice covered in a sauce made from tomatoes, onions, garlic, thyme, hot peppers, and other spices of personal choice typically made with some sort of meat like fish but some do a vegetarian option with none.
This everyone has probably heard of at least once, the term girl boss. Popularized during eras of feminism in which the working woman was the center of attention. Most commonly heard the tagline originated from Tumblr “Gaslight, Gatekeep, Girlboss,” which is mostly a joke but also a small bit of a jab at the modern concept of a powerful boss. It is most commonly used now as an uplifting term for women who are entrepreneurs, especially in male-dominated fields to encourage the expansion into the field despite occasional difficulty.
An embarrassing addition is thirst trap, a word originating from mostly Tiktok. It refers to videos or images designed with the intent of attracting someone’s desire or attention typically through actions designed to make one seem attractive. Even with this, if one saw someone do the things done in thirst traps in real life, they’d probably seem crazy and a bit creepy. Some actions include things like showcasing one’s abs, and legs, biting their lips and other rather awkward film-worthy performances.
Not all of the 690 words have officially been revealed so this is just a small taste of what is to come, and with no official date as to when they’ll all be done, it’s nice to at least hear of some. For now, it seems most will be words originated by Gen Z online, especially in gaming spheres or pop culture references. Get ready to soon be able to have an excuse to use some modern terms in papers, though teachers may ask for proof that it’s in the dictionary.
