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11 weirdest words added to online Oxford dictionary from 'bants' to 'manspreading'

Don't worry, we don't know what they all mean either

Jess Denham
Thursday 27 August 2015 14:16 BST
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The OED receives updates with new words, phrases and senses added every three months
The OED receives updates with new words, phrases and senses added every three months (OUP)

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Oxford Dictionaries have been having some bants with their new website update, adding more than 1,000 awesomesauce new words and phrases. It's NBD though and if this all annoys you then maybe you're just hangry.

Understand all that? 'Bants', 'awesomesauce', 'NBD' and 'hangry' are just a handful of the new entries that reflect current trends in the English language. Many of the nouns, verbs and adjectives will be familiar to the younger generations bringing them in, but there are still a number of unexpected additions that most people will need explaining.

That's where we come in with a handy guide to the more 'out there' new vocab:

brain fart

a temporary mental lapse or failure to reason correctly

fat-shame

cause (someone judged to be fat or overweight) to feel humiliated by making mocking or critical comments about their size

fur baby

a person's dog, cat, or other furry pet animal

It's puppy love in BBC2's Six Puppies and Us
It's puppy love in BBC2's Six Puppies and Us (BBC)

bants (also bantz)

playfully teasing or mocking remarks exchanged with another person or group; banter

awesomesauce

extremely good; excellent

cupcakery

a bakery that specialises in cupcakes

bruh

a male friend (often used as a form of address)

manspreading

he practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats

cat cafe

a cafe or similar establishment where people pay to interact with cats housed on the premises

Two of the resident cats play in the cafe while another watches
Two of the resident cats play in the cafe while another watches

mkay

non-standard spelling of OK, representing an informal pronunciation (typically used at the end of a statement to invite agreement, approval, or confirmation)

wine o'clock

an appropriate time of day for starting to drink wine.

Oxford Dictionaries insists that the addition of slang words reflects "creative" use of the English language and is not a case of "dumbing-down".

The website is only updated once editors are confident of widespread use and continued historical use must be proven before additions to the Oxford English Dictionary.

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