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Fuzzy logic lets the OED half-inch more street slang

Maxine Frith,Social Affairs Correspondent
Saturday 07 June 2003 00:00 BST
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Alcopops, bling-bling and geek are some of the latest words to be immortalised in the Oxford English Dictionary - joining 6,000 other new terms.

The cosmetic treatment botox is included, as is Viagra. Minging is also honoured with a place among the dictionary's 187,000 definitions. It is defined as "foul smelling or very bad, unpleasant". Other slang terms include headcase, khazi and half-inching (pinching, or stealing).

This week, a High Court judge, Mr Justice Lewison, compared rap lyrics to "a foreign language" after hearing a song in which "bling-bling" ("expensive, ostentatious clothing or jewellery, or the wearing of them") was mentioned.

New office terms include cut-and-paste, screensavers and search engines. Hands-free phones, phreaking - hacking into phone systems for free calls - and fuzzy logic are all new inclusions. Corporate-speak includes dot-coms, blipverts - subliminal television adverts - and straplines.

Even J R R Tolkien's fictional world of The Lord of the Rings is recognised. Orcs are described as "members of an imaginary race of ugly, aggressive human-like creatures".

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