More than 750 brand-new words that make "bling-bling" sound so five minutes ago

For readers who want to be on the cutting edge of the English lexicon or for dedicated word geeks, The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English presents more than 750 words that have unofficially joined the English language. These words are hot off the street, new even to cyberspace, and definitely not found in Webster's. Each entry features a definition, etymology, and at least three citations from print and the Internet that show the evolution of its meaning.

Entries include:

• Bangalored (adj.) having been relocated to India; having lost business or employment due to such a relocation.
• Paleoconservative (n.) a holder of outdated or old-fashioned conservative beliefs.
• Barbecue Stopper (n.) a topic of constant and widespread conversation, especially a divisive political or social issue.

This is not your paleoconservative's dictionary.

The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English is a collection of cutting-edge words used around the English-speaking world. From Nollywood to Califunny and Corrupticut to Trashcanistan, these words are hot off the street and the Internet, and they are definitely not in Webster's. Inside you'll learn more than 750 new words, their meanings, and how they became part of the English lexicon.

Visit The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English Download Page

You can download The Official Dictionary of Unofficial English: A Crunk Omnibus for Thrillionaires and Bampots for the Ecozoic Age in PDF format.

Paperback: 288 pages
Author: Grant Barrett
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (May 23, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0071458042
ISBN-13: 978-0071458047

INTRODUCTION
This book is the result of hunting on the Internet for unrecorded words. In these pages, you’ll find words you’ve never seen before— even though they’ve been around for decades. You’ll find old words with new definitions. You’ll find foreign words tiptoeing into foreign Englishes, sports jargon butting into politics, street slang bouncing out of California, and Spanish moving comfortably into mainstream American English. From dozens of countries, from politics and sports, slang and jargon, humdrum to extraordinary, new and old, what you’ll read is language that deserves a little more attention.

Although it may look like it at first glance, not all of these words are new. Many are, but more than a few have histories spanning decades or even a century. They all share, however, two characteristics. One, they are undocumented or underdocumented. This means that there is more to be said about them than has so far appeared in other dictionaries. Two, they are interesting in and of themselves, either as cultural artifacts, for their history, or even just for the way they roll off the tongue. ...

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grant Barrett is an American lexicographer and dictionary editor specializing in slang and new words. He is part of the team of lexicographers that make the new online dictionary Wordnik.com possible.

Grant is also co-host of the American languagerelated public radio show "A Way With Words" http://www.waywordradio.org and editor o f the " Oxford Dictionary o f American Political Slang" (2004, Oxford University Press), and is well-known for his prize-winning online Double-Tongued Dictionary.

Besides being a widely quoted language authority, Grant has written on language for such newspapers as the Washington Post and the New York Times, has contributed to the British book series "The Language Report," and is a public speaker about dictionaries and slang. He also writes a fortnightly column about English-language slang for the Malaysia Star, a bi-monthly dictionary update for the journal Copyediting, and has worked as a business and music journalist.

He serves as vice president of the American Dialect Society, an academic organization devoted since 1889 to the study of English in North America. He also is chair of its New Words Committee, edits the "Among the New Words" column of the society's journal American Speech, is a member of the journal's editorial review board, and helps organize the society's annual "word of the year" vote. He is also a member of the Dictionary Society of North America and the Linguistic Society of America.

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