Something to get excited about?

Apparently the English lexicon in the early 21st century owes a hefty debt to The Simpsons. In 2001, the Oxford English Dictionary legitimized the term “d’oh,” Homer’s iconic expression of frustration, by including it within its pages. Now another expression from the show – “meh” – has made it into the Collins Dictionary.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

The origins of “meh” are murky, but the term grew in popularity after being used in a 2001 episode of The Simpsons in which Homer suggests a day trip to his children Bart and Lisa.

“They both just reply ‘meh’ and keep watching TV,” said Cormac McKeown, head of content at Collins Dictionaries.

The dictionary defines “meh” as an expression of indifference or boredom, or an adjective meaning mediocre or boring. Examples given by the dictionary include “the Canadian election was so meh”.

Notwithstanding the precision of that usage example, Quillblog would like to suggest some other words or phrases that should be officially sanctioned in the English language: OMG, lolcats, my bad, misunderestimated, and awesomesauce.

Don’t tase the locavore, bro!

A litmus test for cultural literacy is whether or not the above sentence makes any sense at all. If not, you’ll have to look up “tase” and “locavore” in an upcoming edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary, which has named the latter its 2007 word of the year (“tase” is one of the runners-up; for a satiric depiction of its evolution in the American lexicon see here).

Here’s an excerpt about the winning word on the Oxford University Press blog:

The past year saw the popularization of a trend in using locally grown ingredients, taking advantage of seasonally available foodstuffs that can be bought and prepared without the need for extra preservatives.

The “locavore” movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation.

A quick glance at some of the other candidates for word of the year seems to indicate dire times, with new words in American English to describe counterinsurgency warfare (“MRAP vehicle”), ecological disaster (“colony collapse disorder”), and an aging population (“cougar” and “aging in place”).

Next year, this Quillblogger hopes to get less utilitarian, more suggestive words – like one of those Inuit words for snow, say, or something to describe the in-between state of wakefulness and sleep.