English is renowned as the world’s most swiftly evolving language, a process highlighted by the raft of sometimes curious new words — ”chav”, ”Asbo” and ”retrosexual” — featured in a new dictionary published on Thursday.
The latest edition of the Collins English Dictionary contains no fewer than 1 500 new words, which between them chart the ever-changing verbal and cultural currents of the British nation.
Among the best-known to Britons is ”chav”, a derogatory word which has taken the nation by storm in recent months, describing young, tasteless and often violent louts, generally dressed in track suits or other sportswear.
Thought to derive from the Romany gypsy word ”chavi”, or child, the dictionary gives a female equivalent — ”chavette” — and a pair of accompanying adjectives, ”chavish” and ”chavtastic”.
Another newcomer now commonly used in Britain is ”Asbo”, an acronym taken from ”anti-social behaviour order”, court rulings imposed against persistent petty criminals.
More self-explanatory are some words and phrases taken from the media and consumer worlds, such as ”property porn”, used to describe escapist television programmes showing desirable houses being sold or redeveloped.
Meanwhile, a ”brand Nazi” insists on buying one particular marque of clothing or other commodity, while a ”retrosexual” — a direct rebuff to the well-scrubbed ”metrosexual” — is a man who spends little time and money on his personal appearance.
The linguistically rich world of football has also contributed some newcomers, including the self-explanatory if tongue-twisting ”bouncebackability”, attributed to Iain Dowie, manager of English football side Crystal Palace.
A phrase popularised by Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson is also included, the richly evocative ”squeaky-bum time”, something the dictionary describes as ”the tense final stages of a league competition, esp. from the point of view of the leaders”. – Sapa-AFP