Merriam-Webster's Validates DVR, RPG To Lexicon

It's the "perfect storm" of technology and "gray literature." So much so, that "Bollywood" should produce a "ginormous" movie spectacular about the changes to this year's dictionary.These are just a few of the 100 words adopted by Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary for its Eleventh Edition. The publisher's announcement Wednesday also included long-time tech jargon DVR (digital video recorder) and RPG, which sadly does not mean role-playing game (or better yet, rocket propelled grenade)... but Report Program Generator. You know, a computer language that generates programs from the user's specifications especially to produce business reports. The phrase has been around since 1966.

Philologists like me love it when the brains behind OED, Merriam-Webster's and American Heritage update their tomes with the latest lingo. It makes us feel smarter knowing that words we use on a regular basis may end up as common references. I for one was getting tired of writing out in long form the phrase digital video recorder and having to explain how it was different than a VCR or a DVD player. Ugh. Finally, I can use a three-letter abbreviation for a box that does what TiVo does.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a word geek. I used to read the dictionary and encyclopedia for fun over a bowl of Coco Puffs at the breakfast table. It sounds socially painful, but now it comes in handy now that I'm writing for a living. Knowing obscure words also makes me a hoot on game night and at parties too.

What's interesting about the M-W list this year is how much of a mash-up some of these words are. Ginormous, for example, is a combo of gigantic and enormous. Call it the mashup of the dictionary.

You may not know it but the business of reference dictionaries like M-W and American Heritage is extremely political. I didn't realize it till I took an extension course at U.C. Berkeley a couple of years ago. The instructor spent an entire semester pointing out how American and British dictionaries differ greatly on the usage of simple things like commas.

Think I'm joking? Just read a critical analysis of "Eats Shoots and Leaves" by Lynne Truss. The Best Seller on punctuation raised a great discussion on just such an issue.

So considering the time and effort used to publish these dictionaries, it's nice to see the addition of more tech language into the vernacular.

I'm already looking forward to next year's edition. Any bets on whether phrases like Web 2.0 will make the cut?