Geeks get a word in with Merriam-Webster

Geek culture is once again showing its influence over the mainstream lexicon in the latest version of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, which includes word additions such as webinar, malware, netroots, pretexting (thank you Hewlett-Packard), and fanboy (thank you Apple).

Webinar is "one more example of the significant ongoing trend for electronic technologies to add words to the language," Merriam-Webster publisher John Morse said in a Monday press release about the 100 or so new words in the 2008 edition of the influential reference guide.

That's in line with Merriam-Webster's choice of the term "wOOt"--with its roots in video game culture--as the word of the year for 2007.

The 100 or so new words in M-W's latest dictionary reflect societal trends beyond technology. For example, some stem from culinary arts, such as prosecco (a sparkling Italian wine), soju (a Korean vodka distilled from rice), edamame (immature green soybeans), and pescatarian (a vegetarian whose diet includes fish).

But my favorite new entry, by far, is mondegreen, defined as "a word or phrase that results from a mishearing of something said or sung." According to M-W, the term was first coined by author Sylvia Wright in 1954, when Wright wrote an article for The Atlantic magazine confessing to a childhood misinterpretation of the Scottish ballad "The Bonny Earl of Moray." "When she first heard the lyric, 'they had slain the Earl of Moray and had laid him on the green,' she felt terribly sorry for the 'poor Lady Mondegreen,'" according to the press release.

A more contemporary example is the bungling of the Jimi Hendrix "Purple Haze" line, "Scuse me, while I kiss the sky" as "Scuse me, while I kiss this guy." My personal mondegreen example is the line from the Clash song "Rock the Casbah," "The shareef don't like it," which I always thought was, "Shareeve don't like it." Who was this Shareeve character anyway, I wondered. You got one? M-W is asking the public to submit their own mondegreens by July 25, with favorites to be revealed and featured online beginning July 28.

M-W says it picks the new dictionary entries only after it starts to see the words used over time without explanation or translation. Here's an Associated Press story with more details.

[theonlybuster]

Woot woot... 1 step closer to world domination

[LunaticSX]

"Fanboy" comes from comic books and science fiction fandom, though--think of all the "fanboys" (and "fangirls") standing in line for Star Wars. That came long before the line-waiting for Steve Jobs keynotes and the iPhone.

[eccesignum]

Not sure what the fuss is about 'mondegreen' (this is the third article I've read about it). It's been around a while. Dictionary.com cites the Random House Unabridged Dictionary (c) 2006, and I've seen it in paper dictionaries before then.

[Kev Orng]

I like Mondegreen too, but it's an old one.

And don't blame Apple for "Fanboy". Fanboy is an insult you direct at someone when your personal bias prevents you from bothering to listen or understand. It's a brick wall for shutting down honest and reasoned discourse. Like the way extreme right wing Americans shut down moderate to left Americans by labelling them as "liberal". The Moderates will modify their behaviour to avoid the label.

Fanboy and liberal (the negative American connotation of liberal) have got to go, as far as i'm concerned, they are poison words that damage reasonable communication.

[jamesivie]

"poison words that damage reasonable communication". Yes, let's start making certain words illegal. That will solve everything. Obviously a liberal.

[jimmy1jimmy2]

I've recently liked "Moran" - a sarcastic/ironic way to call someone a moron. Usually they are too stupid to get the joke. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=moran

[gazzc]

Jimi, in one live concert, and to my ears at least, specifically uses the "Kiss this guy" form of the line in Purple Haze mentioned in this article.
That said, I don't know if he'd based it on the common "mondegreen" or used it regardless of external influence.

[newe1344]

w00t! Soon high school tourneys will be played in video games and "Jocks" will be Geeks with controllers instead of muscles.

[Motyoj]

I'm having beef and noodles for dinner. Mmm...Oh, wait. Does that make a beef and noodle fanboy? Oh well, so be it.