I have to admit that this is sort of a trick question. You see, there are two versions of the Oxford Dictionary. First there is the prestigious Oxford English Dictionary. This is the official dictionary where words are never removed, some words may be way out of date, and is sort of the “Official” dictionary. Then there is the Oxford Dictionary Online. From the Oxford University Press, the folks that put out both, “The dictionary content in ODO focuses on current English and includes modern meanings and uses of words,” which I take to mean as the “We can add things, and take them away, and it’s fun to get in the news when we add things like ‘twerk’ and ‘grats’ to it” version.
During the week there was much hubbub as The Oxford folks added “twerk” to the ODO version, much to the dismay of scholars, but probably much to the delight of Miley Cyrus who is now taking credit for a word being added to the dictionary even though it has supposedly been used since around the time she was born. It’s also a word that will probably, thanks to Miley, be shunned from this week forward as visions of people dancing as teddy bears and a Disney star going blue, sporting a foam finger, and wishing her tongue was as long as Gene Simmons’ will forever be associated with it thanks to her performance on the MTV Video Music Awards.
I suppose, maybe, this plight should have actually been something like “Did you know there are two versions of the Oxford dictionary?”, but what fun would that have been? Instead, now I’m wondering if you answered the question in your head thinking “twerk” was added to the “official” dictionary? In the end, though, I plight: Should “twerk” have been added to the Oxford Dictionary Online?
That’s it for this plight! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!
