193 Comments
Merriam-Webster has announced its list of more than a hundred new words that they'll be adding to the dictionary this year. Aside from some no-brainers (did people really walk around bemused, not knowing what a zip line or vlog was?), the list features such newly approved bon mots as frenemy (something passive-aggressive 14-year-old girls call each other), sock puppet (something dorks on the Internet call each other) and açai (something Brazilian berries call each other).

Other new additions to the Merriam-Webster lexicon include:

-- Carbon footprint: "the amount of carbon emitted by something during a given period." First noted in 1999.
-- Earmark: "a provision in congressional legislation that allocates a specified amount of money for a specific project, program or organization." The word earmark is dated to the 15th century, but the latest addition to its defintion is all about the 21st.
-- Locavore: "one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible." First noted in 2005.
-- Reggaeton: "popular music of Puerto Rican origin that combines rap with Caribbean rhythms." First noted in 2002.
-- Staycation: "vacation spent at home or nearby." First noted in 2005.

We applaud the modern leanings of ivory-tower types who create dictionaries; after all, we're word nerds ourselves. Still we feel there is a marked dearth of new words in the dictionary that truly impress us ("carbon footprint" sounds manly, but it isn't) -- a condition that we intend to remedy.

After the jump, read some additions to the dictionary that we'd like to see. Feel free to leave your own suggestions in the comments section.

A-Jacko-lypse, noun: when one famous person's death is at the epicenter of a slew of random celebrity demises

E-Jacko-late, verb: what the news media does when someone really famous dies

Gosselin, verb: to make a complete fool out of your significant other (applies to both genders)

Margarineface, noun: cheaper and slightly less appealing than a butterface

Visiting Argentina, verb: the act of hiking the Appalachian Trail (see below)

Hiking the Appalachian Trail, verb: the act of visiting Argentina (see above)

Dykstrapolate, verb: to take a simple concept, get hit in the head with a line drive, then explain that concept at length

Grillfriend, noun: similar to bromance, a grillfriend is a guy you hang around with mainly for his skill at producing delicious, charred vittles

Crock Blocking, verb: when your roommate turns off your slow-cooker

Out Like MySpace, adjective: a way of saying "good-bye," as in, "I'm out like MySpace"

Out Like What, Grampa?, adjective: cutting response to "I'm out like MySpace"

Donkey Kong, noun: what it's "on" like


From the Web:

15 Words You Won't Believe They Added to the Oxford English Dictionary (Cracked)

Top 10 Most Overused Words in English (AskMen)

The Most Misspelled Word in English (Lemondrop)