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Friday, July 1, 2011

Does the Dictionary Carry Standards Anymore?

Are words used in chat (LOL) and trendy terms, such as Staycation, really meant for inclusion to the dictionary? Each year someone posts or blogs about these gimmicky word uses that were meant sell an idea. They are slang words expressing a real word. Tramp stamp should not find it's way into a dictionary for the simple fact that it stereotypes individuals with a tattoo on the lower back and it also used to mean the person might be "easy" in some circles. I don't find the term "Big Johnson" listed among those esteemed vocabulary terms as it was a widely used verbally and on t-shirts. Unfriend is yet another word to grace these sacred pages and be forever immortalized.
I am losing faith in our written society as the world grows older around us. We had other books to contain these fads, which were found as reference material like a thesaurus. Nowadays, if a word catches the attention of the majority it will be in indoctrinated into our holy grail - The Dictionary. I don't know if it can ever be stopped at this point, but the literary community cannot fall prey to words like "ain't" outside of a character's dialog and still be considered a writer. We need to hold a higher standard of writing if the younger generation is to know what words really are instead of making them up as they grow up.