New dictionary includes 'ginormous'

The word 'ginormous' is framed by fingers after being added to a draft copy of the upcoming Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, in Springfield, Mass

　　It was a ginormous year for the wordsmiths at Merriam-Webster. Along with embracing the adjective that combines "gigantic" and "enormous," the dictionary publishers also got into Bollywood, sudoku and speed dating.

　　But their interest in India's motion-picture industry, number puzzles and trendy ways to meet people was all meant for a higher cause: updating the company's collegiate dictionary, which goes on sale this fall with about 100 newly added words.

　　As always, the yearly list gives meaning to the latest lingo in pop culture, technology and current events.

　　There's "crunk," a style of Southern rap music; the abbreviated "DVR," for digital video recorder; and "IED," shorthand for the improvised explosive devices that have become common in the war in Iraq.

　　"There will be linguistic conservatives who will turn their nose up at a word like `ginormous,'" said John Morse, Merriam-Webster's president. "But it's become a part of our language. It's used by professional writers in mainstream publications. It clearly has staying power."

　　One of those naysayers is Allan Metcalf, a professor of English at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., and the executive secretary of the American Dialect Society.

　　"A new word that stands out and is ostentatious is going to sink like a lead balloon," he said.

　　But Merriam-Webster traces ginormous back to 1948, when it appeared in a British dictionary of military slang. And in the past several years, its use has become, well, ginormous.

　　Merriam-Webster editors have spotted it in countless newspaper and magazine articles since 2000.

　　That's essentially the criteria for making it into the collegiate dictionary - if a word shows up often enough in mainstream writing, the editors consider defining it.

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