Of the thousands of new words that have entered English from 1983 to 2012 here are the 20 most common ones found on this website in 2012 (on the Open Thread from June to August).
A word counts as “new” if it or its meaning does not appear in my 1983 edition of the “Chambers 20th Century Dictionary” or is otherwise known to be new since 1983.
I will give the meanings in words I knew back then. That will require:
A Few Introductory Concepts:
- click on – to pick something on a computer screen.
- Internet – the world-wide public computer network. It is often conceived of as a spider web.
- website – a place on the Web (the Internet). Most websites have a set of pages (called web pages) which you view on your computer screen one at a time. You can move between pages – or to another website – by means of links:
- link – a picture or word (often underlined) on a web page that you can click on to go to another page or website. Short for “hyperlink”.
- search engine – a website where you can search for stuff on the Internet.
New words (with year of earliest known use):
- biracial (1990s) – North American: said of someone whose parents belong to different races.
- blog (1999) – a website that takes the form of a diary or journal. Comes from “we(b log)”. Also called a blog-site.
- BTW (1989) – short for “by the way”.
- BWE (2007) – short for “Black Women’s Empowerment”, a movement of black women writers in North America and Britain which seeks to help black women live happier lives. Best known for pushing the idea that marrying white is better than marrying black.
- colourism – the belief that light-skinned people of a given race or ethnic group are better than those who are darker-skinned.
- email (1982) – a message sent to another person over the Internet. Short for “electronic mail”.
- Estuary English (1984) – Standard English spoken with an accent between RP and Cockney. Middle-class London English, more or less.
- Google (1998) – the main search engine on the Internet. Also a verb: to google something.
- link – short for hyperlink (1987). See above under Introductory Concepts.
- LOL (1993) – short for “laugh out loud”.
- mindset (1920 in educators’ jargon) – a set way of thinking.
- online – being on a computer network (1950), particularly the Internet (1990s).
- POC (1980s) – North American: short for “people of colour”, people who are not white, particularly those who experience white racism. What White Americans call “minorities” or “non-whites”.
- poster – Internet: someone who adds a comment on a web page. Also called a commenter or commentator.
- POV – short for “point of view”.
- Stormfront (1990) – the main Klan website.
- sub-Saharan (1955) – South of the Sahara. An unracist-seeming way of saying “black”, as in sub-Saharan Africans.
- thread – Internet: all the comments or emails belonging to the same discussion.
- video – new sense: a video recording, generally less than ten minutes long. A whole television show or film would not be called a video.
- YouTube (2005) – the main website for videos.
Not in the Oxford dictionary with the above meanings as of 2012: BWE, colourism, POC, people of colour, thread. (They do not do most proprietary names.)
– Abagond, 2012, 2015.
See also:
- The future that was
- The future that kind of never was
- Anachronistic words in Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
- notes towards a glossary for the fifth century – the same idea, but applied to a post for terms new since the 400s
- RP
- Internet
- The Web
When did “African-American” start being used to refer to Black Americans? Wasn’t it in the mid 80s?
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@ Jefe
I think it was like 1987 or 1988 that Jesse Jackson started pushing it and the American press began to pick it up. It almost made this list.
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Other recent additions to the American lexicon:
homeland
anywho
al-Qaeda
metrocard (NYC word)
hip-hop
race-realist
reverse racism
race card
lap-top
bonded leather
trolls
smoothie
code-red
stock derivatives
put-options
spin
posers
* perhaps a companion post about words that are seldom used nowadays is in order?
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wow Here is an amazing thing I just found , done in 1967, saying “African American” and “black” were being discussed back then
And, here is a bomb to be dropped on the Europeans here insisting that “black” is the chosen word of the slave master, this person implies that the earliast records of written works by African slaves brought to the Americas, did not like being called “negro” and preferred “African” or “black”
http://www.virginia.edu/woodson/courses/aas102%20(spring%2001)/articles/names/bennett.htm
Only bringing this in to shine light on the question above, because , tits not really the topic, but at least, hopefully will answer the question that “Afro American” seemed to be discussed back in 1967.which makes sence to me since the “Afro ” was in vougue back then , and, I knew about this, but couldnt speak with authority if we used “Afro American ” back then. Yet Im sure terms like “Afro Cuban” were used to describe culture back then
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@B.R.
For most of my life, i used black as the default group associative word. Today, i tend to say african-american more than black. Why the change? In my opinion, african-american is the proper term, because, all of us hail from the african continent. Secondly, black is just one of many shades that constitute blackness in the physical sense. My shade is brown, my siblings are brown, etc. Another point, using african-american over black allows us to connect with africa in ways that black cannot. Africa is a physical body, black is just a color. I use black in terms of culture and asthetic…blackness, black manhood, black womanhood, black music, black art, black sexuality, and so forth. Words have meaning and power, we need to remember that. As for west-indian and spanish blacks, they should embrace their africanness as well. Covering up our racial identity with PC labels such as caribbean and latino are self-defeating. If we want to get the chains from around our necks, we have to be serious about it. At some point, we have to cease with giving african children in the diaspora slave names just because it’s custom. Thanks to africanancestry.com and other orgs, we can trace our roots back to africa…specific tribe, language, location, etc. For some, it may seem trivial, but it’s a necessity that we reclaim our humanity and independence as daughters and sons of Africa.
Tyrone
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Tyrone ,I like “African American”, “Afro Brazilian” “Afro Cuban” too
Would you beleive there are nationalist Brazilians, mostly white Brazilians, who get up tight about it….I dont really know why, but, underneath , I kind of do…
As Ive said to the people who have mentioned they dont like “black”,I am happy to accomodate them , but, in all honesty, this information I just ran across today, that there is indication that some early African American people who arrived in slavery, in rejection of being called “Negro”, ” colored” the “nword” etc, cunningly dribbled the white man’s descriptions by choosing to self identify as “African” or “black”….I find that interesting, dont you ?
New words:
“biter”
“crunk”
” meth amphetimine (it was speed in my time)”
“ecstacy (the drug)”
“crack”
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How about post racial and neo soul. Just my two cents.
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Diva, Haters, Multi-Cultural, politically correct, W
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Douchebag, Winning!!!! *In Meryl Streep voice “That is All”.
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The most common words on my Tumblr dashboard that I would not have known in 1983:
reblog
trans
.com
Tumblr
Instagram
http
blog
Twitter
Rihanna
twerk
terfs
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You forgot one.African American.I hate political correctness.How come I don’t get to be called” Polish American”?
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If,as a white guy,I was born and raised in South Africa,then emigrated to the U.S.,do I get to call myself”African-American”?
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