A revised edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was released online today, and everyone’s buzzing about the addition of “heart” — as in, the “<3” symbol, a verb meaning “to love.” In fact, this new inclusion is pretty representative of the types of terms that appear in the update, which seem to fall into two overlapping groups: words related to the internet and words that come straight from the vocabulary of teenage girls and/or the ladymags they read.
Tech terms on the list include “dotbomb” (a failed internet company), “fabless” (a firm that doesn’t manufacture its own product”), and “ego-surfing” (the generic term for Googling yourself), while “muffin top,” “wags” (an acronym for “wives and girlfriends”), “singledom,” and “domestic goddess” all seem ripped from the pages of Cosmo. And then there’s “OMG” and “LOL,” which — like “<3” — appeal to both the teen girl camp and the dudes at 4chan. But the OED‘s true term for our times? “Tinfoil hat.” Congratulations, crazies, you made the dictionary of record. A full list of words, from “about round” to “yidaski” is here.