Of all the terms that have been added in the most recent update of the Oxford English Dictionary, “fur baby” and “manspreading” might have the most potential for, well, weird Craigslist-style misunderstanding. But that’s just one casualty of the great, ongoing project that is the OED. All the recent additions—which are made quarterly, decided upon by a team of lexicographers and, based on this quarters additions, a few tweens?— serve to further the 600,000-and-counting epic verbal journey that is the English language. Which is just, like, awesomesauce.
Beyond some terms that won’t have as much play in the U.S. – Grexit and Brexit, which denote Greece and the UK’s potential exit from the Euro Zone – there are plenty that do. Exhausted from all those annoying muscular contortions required to say “bro”? No problem, bruh. They fixed that for you. Rly (that’s another one). The hangry will finally have a dictionary entry to point as the waiter at the fast-casual restaurant asks them to leave. And yes, the sweet, doe-eyed manic pixie dream girl will finally have her special ability (to transform introvert dudes into slightly less introvert dudes through the magic of big eyelashes and standing around in the rain) recorded for the ages.
All this is very (very) verbally exciting. But clearly our favorites – and maybe proof that Hoda and Kathie Lee have far more cultural impact than we all thought – are wine o’clock, and its companion beer o’clock (we’re not sure why whiskey o’clock didn’t make it in, and are awaiting comment from the OED). Designated nouns, they’re defined as “whatever time of day you start drinking beer or wine.” The best part of that definition, well, any time could be beer or wine o’clock. If, say, a gentleman asks you why you’re cracking a beer at 9:45 in the morning, point to your pocket watch, which has had all the numbers replaced with “beer o’clock,” and rebuff him the two most powerful new additions to the OED. “NBD. Mkay?” (Mic drop.)
