‘F-bomb’ tops list of new words in the Merriam-Webster dictionary

Every year, the Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary makes new additions to its lexicon of established words — often to the chagrin of language purists.

For every "bootylicious" or "blog" that gets added to the official roster, you can count on thousands of angry linguists who decry the good old days when people actually knew how to speak proper English.

But slang has long made up the fabric of everyday speech, and with this year's 100 inductees, dictionary editors have come up with a list that they believe reflects the words that deserve a little defining action.

And lest you believe these are arbitrary, spur-of-the-moment decisions, The Associated Press writes that editors of the Springfield, Mass.-based company spend years tracking usage along everything from media stories to food and beverage labels.

So what are the words that made this year's cut?

Well, it starts with an F-bomb.

Yes, the word you use in lieu of spelling out the actual four-letter profanity for propriety's sake has landed in the hallowed dictionary pages after decades of living on the vernacular margins.

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Merriam-Webster associate editor Kory Stamper told The AP that this "very visually evocative" term has so far garnered the most attention.

"It's not just the F-word," said Stamper. "It's F-bomb. You know that it's going to cause a lot of consternation and possible damage."

Offended parties can thank pro sports for making the F-bomb reign.

Stamper and her group managed to trace the term back to a Newsday story in 1988, when former Mets catcher Gary Carter told the magazine he'd given up "F-bombs" along with many other locker room favourites.

The F-bomb gained a little more traction after legendary basketball coach Bobby Knight expressed his fondness for the term.

But it wasn't until the term got co-opted into the political arena that the F-bomb's status became solidified.

"We saw another huge spike after Dick Cheney dropped an F-bomb in the Senate in 2004, and again in 2010 when Vice President Joe Biden did the same thing in the same place," Stamper told the news agency.

While F-bomb can be found among countless online dictionary sources, this will be the first time it appears in print.

Other entries into this year's edition include "sexting," "gastropub," "aha moment," "earworm," "man cave," and "bucket list," all "colourful" terms according to Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, Peter Sokowlski.

"They show that English-speakers can be very creative as they describe the world around them," he said in a released statement.

Though the full list of 100 won't be released (the editors cite competition as a main reason), a sneak preview of the top 25 has hit the 'net.

And for those who prefer their slang to remain unofficial, there's always the great alternative standby, urbandictionary.com.