Slang word of the day: the naughties

Today's slang word of the day, to end out the year, is the naughties. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang word of the day: the naughts

Today's slang word of the day is the naughts. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang word of the day: the aughts

Today's slang word of the day is the aughts. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang word of the day: Xmas

Today's slang word of the day is Xmas. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Catching up with updates #4

Hello slang fans!

Continuing our catching up with updates:

• November 4
• November 5
• November 6
• November 7
• November 11
• November 13

Don't forget that there's now a Word of the Day email list / news feed. You can subscribe on this page.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang word of the day: lulz

Today's slang word of the day is lulz. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang word of the day: Starbucks name

Today's slang word of the day is Starbucks name. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang word of the day: upcycle

Today's slang word of the day is upcycle. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Catching up with updates #3

Hello slang fans!

Continuing our catching up with updates:

• October 28
• October 29
• October 30
• November 1
• November 2
• November 3

Don't forget that there's now a Word of the Day email list / news feed. You can subscribe on this page.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang word of the day: second shift

Today's slang word of the day is second shift. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Catching up with updates

Hello slang fans!

Continuing our catching up with updates:

• October 22
• October 23
• October 24
• October 25
• October 26
• October 27

Don't forget that there's now a Word of the Day email list / news feed. You can subscribe after clicking here.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang word of the day: lappy

Today's slang word of the day is lappy. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: fatosphere

Today's word of the day is fatosphere. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Thursday's word of the day: desk jockey

Today's word of the day is desk jockey. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: CSI effect

Today's word of the day is CSI effect. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: Christian side hug

Today's word of the day is Christian side hug. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: mother's little helper

Today's word of the day is mother's little helper. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: spiv

Today's word of the day comes from Britain: spiv. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: food baby

Continuing this week's theme of food slang (in honor of Thanksgiving,) I present: food baby. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: food coma

Continuing this week's theme of food slang (in honor of Thanksgiving,) I present: food coma. Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: Turkey Day

Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the day: TWILF

Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Catching up with updates

Hello slang fans!

Continuing our catching up with updates:

• October 14
• October 16
• October 17
• October 18
• October 20
• October 21

Don't forget that there's now a Word of the Day email list / news feed. You can subscribe on The Online Slang Dictionary home page.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the day: tweep

Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day, Twitter, Facebook and recent updates

Hello slang fans!

The Online Slang Dictionary now has a Word of the Day feed. You can subscribe to the emails (or subscribe in a newsreader) via the "Word of the day" section on the home page. The first Word of the Day is unfriend, which was chosen as the New Oxford American Dictionary Word of the Year for 2009.

Speaking of social networking, you can now follow the slang dictionary on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

I've been remiss in sending out update notices. My apologies. Let's start catching up:

• October 8
• October 9
• October 10
• October 11
• October 12
• October 13

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Word of the Day: unfriend

Click here to view the definition, vote on usage, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

5 recent updates

Hello slang fans!

Days on which users edited/added slang:

• October 3
• October 4
• October 5
• October 6
• October 7

I have updated the site visuals. It wasn't a big change. The right side-bar is gone. Some of its content has moved to the top of the page. Stop by the blog and let me know what you think.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Improvements to site search; many new updates

Hello slang fans!

Yesterday I made some improvements to the site search, so it should be easier to find definitions. This will be an ongoing process so search results will improve over time. You can leave feedback about the search feature (or anything else) on the blog.

I made the root words feature more efficient. If a slang term contains "the" or "a", the list of words containing those roots have been restored.

Recent slang updates:

• September 16
• September 17
• September 18
• September 20
• September 21
• September 22
• September 23
• September 24
• September 25
• September 27
• September 29
• September 30
• October 1
• October 2

Don't forget that The Online Slang Dictionary is now a wiki. Logged-in users can add new definitions and edit existing ones.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

The Online Slang Dictionary is now a wiki

Hello slang fans!

For a couple of months, logged-in users have been able to submit new slang words to the dictionary via the website. I'm happy to announce a new feature: logged-in users can now edit existing definitions. Look for the "Edit this definition" links.

Additional tweaks are forthcoming, such as the ability to view the edit history of a term.

If you have any feedback, stop by the blog and leave a comment.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

5 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've recently added 5 sets of slang updates:

• September 11
• September 12
• September 13
• September 14
• September 15

I made some tweaks to the root words feature.

• If a slang term contains "the" or "a", the list of words containing those roots aren't shown. (They made the web pages take longer to download.) When I write the code to make those lists more efficient, I'll restore them.
• Plural words are now de-pluralized.

If you have any feedback, come by the blog and leave a comment.

If you enjoy the Online Slang Dictionary, please tell a friend. Look for the "Bookmark", "Email", and "Share" buttons in the right sidebar of the site. You can email any page to a friend, share via Facebook or Twitter, etc.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

6 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've recently added 6 sets of slang updates:

• September 4
• September 5
• September 6
• September 8
• September 9
• September 10

If you enjoy the Online Slang Dictionary, please tell a friend. You can email any page to a friend via the right sidebar. Look for the "Bookmark", "Email", and "Share" buttons.

Enjoy!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

3 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've recently added 3 sets of slang updates:

• August 31
• September 1
• September 2

If you enjoy the Online Slang Dictionary, please tell a friend. You can email any page to a friend via the right sidebar. Look for the "Bookmark", "Email", and "Share" buttons.

Enjoy!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Feature announcement: Root words

Hello slang fans!

When viewing a definition, you will now see a list of all slang terms in the dictionary that share the same word(s). For example, on the definition page for as much use as a handbrake on a canoe, you'll find a list of all slang terms that contain "as", a list of all slang terms that contain "much", "use", "canoe", and so on.

I've also recently added 4 sets of slang updates:

• August 13
• August 14
• August 27
• August 28

Don't forget that you can add new slang words and definitions directly via The Online Slang Dictionary website.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

8 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've recently added 8 sets of slang updates:

• August 5
• August 6
• August 7
• August 8
• August 9
• August 10
• August 11
• August 12

Don't forget that you can add new slang words and definitions directly via The Online Slang Dictionary website.

Enjoy!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

7 new slang updates

I've recently added 7 sets of slang updates:

• July 29
• July 30
• July 31
• August 1
• August 2
• August 3
• August 4

Don't forget that you can add new slang words and definitions directly via The Online Slang Dictionary website.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Feature announcement: "Most offensive words" page

Hello slang fans!

Now that The Online Slang Dictionary has been gathering offensiveness votes for some time, I added a "Most offensive words" page. It contains some pretty foul language, so be forewarned.

I've also added 2 sets of slang updates:

• July 27
• July 28

Now that slang words and definitions can be added directly via the website, I don't need to make an update for there to be new slang. In addition to the above updates, there were submissions on:

• July 24
• July 25
• July 26

Enjoy!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang in the news: For the body-conscious, it's now the ankle that rankles

<Removed.>

-- Citation removed to resolve a penalty against The Online Slang Dictionary. From The Wall Street Journalavailable here

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Announcing The Online Slang Dictionary Blog

Hello slang fans!

The "Online Slang Dictionary - News and Updates" news feed has been available for a couple years now. (Most of you subscribe to it via e-mail.) Now, this content is available on a proper blog.

The Online Slang Dictionary Blog (blog.onlineslangdictionary.com) contains all the content from "News and Updates" - and more. I'll periodically post articles of interest to slang aficionados. Plus, you can comment on each posting.

So come by blog.onlineslangdictionary.com and say hi!

I've also added 5 sets of slang updates:

• July 17
• July 20
• July 21
• July 22
• July 23

Don't forget that you can now add slang words and definitions directly on the website. Click on the "Submit" tab to get started.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Feature announcement: Add new words to the dictionary

Great news! Registered users can now add new slang words via the website. Click the "Submit" tab to get started.

Also, I added a new option to Usage Voting: "I no longer use this slang word." Now it will be possible to identify slang that's no longer in common use.

Plus, there's 3 new sets of slang updates:

• July 14
• July 15
• July 16

Come by the site, sign up or sign in, and go to town adding missing slang words.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang in the news: Prisoners resurrect 500-year-old slang

<Removed.>

The rest of the article is available here.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Feature announcement: Add definitions via the website

Great news! Registered users can now add definitions to most slang terms via the website. Just look for these links below the definitions:

• Add a definition for this slang term ← NEW

I've also added 3 sets of slang updates:

• July 9
• July 10
• July 14

Come by the site, sign up or sign in, and go to town adding missing or new definitions.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Slang in the news: Nevada court permits 'HOE' license

<Removed.>

-- Citation removed to resolve a penalty against The Online Slang Dictionary. From AP article

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

3 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've added 3 sets of slang updates:

• July 6
• July 7
• July 8

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary has Vulgarity Meters, which show you at a glance whether a slang word is workplace appropriate (or ever appropriate.)

Come by the site, sign up for a user account, and weigh in with your vote on how vulgar these new and updated slang words are!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

4 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've added 4 sets of slang updates:

• June 30
• July 1
• July 2
• July 3

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary now has Vulgarity Meters, which show you at a glance whether a slang word is workplace appropriate (or ever appropriate.)

Come by the site, sign up for a user account, and weigh in with your vote on how vulgar these new and updated slang words are!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

9 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've added 5 sets of slang updates:

• June 17
• June 18
• June 22
• June 26
• June 29

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary now has Vulgarity Meters, which show you at a glance whether a slang word is workplace appropriate (or ever appropriate.)

Come by the site, sign up for a user account, and weigh in with your vote on how vulgar these new and updated slang words are!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

2 new updates

I've added 2 sets of slang updates:

• June 15
• June 16

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary has Vulgarity Meters (which show how offensive a slang word is) and Usage Voting (which shows you how common a word is.)

Come by the site, sign up for a user account, and weigh in with your votes!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Why are they called "Vulgarity Meters"?

A reader e-mailed me with the following question:

The vulgarity meter apparently is a measure of how obscene a word is considered. I wonder why you didn't name it "obscenity index" or obscenity-something-else. To me, "vulgar" means "common".

Excellent question. Read on for my (long-winded) reply.

Before I released the feature to the website, it was called "Offensiveness meters." (In fact, in the program code, that's what it's still called.) I didn't like the choice of the word "offensiveness" both because it's a long word (which doesn't look good in a design sense in some places on the website) and because it's connotation is too much "hurtful" and not enough "obscene."

I did some research and found that the word "obsceness" is relatively obscure - for example, my e-mail program flags it as a misspelled word. "Obscenity" is far more common, but (I felt) carried less of the connotation of being a measure of something. As in, you might say, "There was a lot of obscenity in that film," but (perhaps) less likely, "I felt that film's obscenity was 50%."

Obviously the finer points of connotation are arguable, but that was my thought process. So I looked for synonyms and settled on "vulgarity", which I felt was a) more common than "obsceneness" and b) captured better than "obscenity" the sense of being a measurement.

But the reader is right - I totally missed "vulgar" as "common".

What do you think? What would you name the feature?

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

5 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've added 5 sets of slang updates recently:

• May 25
• May 26
• May 29
• June 1

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary now has Vulgarity Meters, which show you at a glance whether a slang word is workplace appropriate (or ever appropriate.)

Come by the site, sign up for a user account, and weigh in with your vote on how vulgar these new and updated slang words are!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: 9 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've added 9 sets of slang updates:

• May 8
• May 10
• May 11
• May 15
• May 16
• May 18
• May 19
• May 20
• May 22

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary now has Vulgarity Meters, which show you at a glance whether a slang word is workplace appropriate (or ever appropriate.)

Come by the site, sign up for a user account, and weigh in with your vote on how vulgar these new and updated slang words are!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: Introducing Vulgarity Meters

Hello slang fans!

Dictionaries are great at telling you what a word means, but not so great at telling you whether you should use the word in polite company.

The Online Slang Dictionary now has Vulgarity Meters - see at a glance whether a slang word is workplace appropriate (or ever appropriate.)

Stop by the slang dictionary and view a definition to see how it works. (Look for the red chili peppers.) Weigh in with your votes to save others the embarrassment of Accidental Inappropriate Slang Use.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

P.S. If you have an account (or sign up for one) your vulgarity votes will be saved to your account - but they're not yet visible from your Profile page. I'll be fixing that soon.

Online Slang Dictionary: 4 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've added 4 sets of slang updates:

• May 4
• May 5
• May 6
• May 7

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary now has user accounts. When you vote on whether you use slang terms, your votes will be registered with your account. I'll be adding additional interactive features soon.

Come by the site, get an account, and vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: 4 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've added 4 sets of slang updates:

• April 24
• April 27
• April 28
• April 30

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary now has user accounts. When you vote on whether you use slang terms, your votes will be registered with your account. I'll be adding additional interactive features soon.

Come by the site, get an account, and vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: 3 new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've added 3 sets of slang updates:

• April 18
• April 22
• April 23

Don't forget that the Online Slang Dictionary now has user accounts. When you vote on whether you use slang terms, your votes will be registered with your account. I'll be adding additional interactive features soon.

Come by the site, get an account, and vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: Announcing user accounts

Hello slang fans!

The Online Slang Dictionary now has user accounts! When you vote on whether you use slang terms, your votes will be registered with your account. I'll be adding additional interactive features soon.

I've also added 3 sets of slang updates:

• April 15
• April 16
• April 17

Come by the site, get an account, and vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: 5 more updates

Hello slang fans!

Since my last announcement, I've added more updates to the dictionary:

• April 3
• April 6
• April 7
• April 13
• April 14

Come by the site, and be sure to vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

User accounts and additional interactive features are coming soon. Stay tuned.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: 3 more updates

Hello slang fans!

Since my last announcement, I've added more updates to the dictionary:

• March 30
• March 31
• April 2

Come by the site, and be sure to vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: 3 new updates

Hello slang fans!

Since my last announcement, I've added more updates to the dictionary:

• March 25
• March 26
• March 27

Come by the site, and be sure to vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: More new updates

Hello slang fans!

Since my last announcement, I've added 4 sets of updates to the dictionary:

• March 19
• March 20
• March 23
• March 24

Come by the site, and be sure to vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: Several new updates

Hello slang fans!

I've posted 5 new updates since my last announcement:

• March 6
• March 7
• March 10
• March 12
• March 17

Come by the site, and be sure to vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: 3 updates; bookmark, share, and e-mail buttons

Hello slang fans!

Since the last update, I've added "Bookmark", "Share", and "Email" buttons to all definitions. The "Email" button lets you e-mail the definition to a friend, directly from your browser.

I've also posted 3 updates:

• March 2
• March 3
• March 5

Come by the site, and be sure to vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: 4 new updates

Hello slang fans.

I've posted 4 updates since my last announcement:

• January 14
• February 24
• February 25
• February 27

Come by the site, and be sure to vote on whether you use these new and updated words!

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)

Online Slang Dictionary: More new words, SlangMaps, and usage voting

Hello slang fans.

It's been a while since my last update. I've actually been adding words most every day. In fact, I've added something like 2,400 new words.

Check out the Online Slang Dictionary home page for the most recent updates.

Have you been to the dictionary recently? If not, you may be missing out on SlangMaps - maps that show you geographically where slang terms are used. You can add yourself to the map. Also, each slang term lets you vote on whether you use it or not.

If you ever have comments or suggestions, please drop me a line.

-- Walter (waltergr@aol.com)