New words from the OED
New words from — well, for — the new Oxford English Dictionary:
discoverage (n) – The amount of media coverage given to a particular story which is disproportionate to the story’s significance. Example: The Today programme spent about 10 minutes on the new OED this morning, but 9 minutes and 50 seconds of that was pure discoverage.
kiloword (n) – A unit of measurement for the weight of a document attributed to the amount of redundant verbiage. Example: I was told the forthcoming edition was far too light, but by trawling the internet and listening to my teenage daughter and her friends I was able to increase it by about 27 kilowords.
manuchatter (vt) – To exaggerate or make something up based on what one read in an internet chat room. Example: I told my boss it was all based on solid research, but to be honest I manuchattered 90% of it.
mediographer (n) – One who purports to be a subject authority, but who is actually just a media mouthpiece. Applied particularly to lexicography. Example: That Judy Pearsall of Oxford University Press, she makes out as if she’s some linguistic expert, but she’s really just a mediographer.
prictionary (n) – A book of word definitions promoted primarily for self-serving PR purposes than for any intrinsic linguistic or cultural value it may carry. Example: That new book from Oxford University Press is frankly a complete prictionary.
