Getty StockIf you're looking for a more concrete way to search for terms other than trusty (yet sometimes creepy) Urban Dictionary, look no further. Oxford Dictionaries Online has updated their arsenal of hip words in one of their biggest overhauls yet.
Oxford added about 1,000 new entries this month in three major categories: slang and abbreviations, food, and games and technology. If those three categories don't accurately describe America's cultural landscape, we're not quite sure what does.
It's important to note that Oxford Dictionaries Online is far more willing to add words to their collection, as long as they can prove the words are being widely and commonly used. Oxford English Dictionaries, on the other hand, is far more selective and it takes words with far more staying power to make the cut.
Here are a few select words we're excited about being added. We are promptly adding them to our daily vernacular right now.
Al desko (adv. & adj.): while working at one's desk in an office (with reference to the consumption of food or meals).
Arancini (pl. n.): An Italian dish consisting of small balls of rice stuffed with a savoury filling, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried.
Canadian tuxedo (n.): a denim jacket worn with a pair of jeans .
Catnip (n): someone or something that is very attractive or appealing to a particular person or group.
Digital footprint (n.): the information about a particular person that exists on the Internet as a result of their online activity.
Duck face (n.): an exaggerated pouting expression in which the lips are thrust outwards, typically made by a person posing for a photograph.
Five-second rule (n.): a notional rule stating that food which has been dropped on the ground will still be uncontaminated with bacteria and therefore safe to eat if it is retrieved within five seconds.
Hawt (adj.): informal spelling of "hot."
IDC (abbrev.): I don't care.
Jel (adj.): jealous.
LOLcat (n.): a photograph of a cat accompanied by a humorous caption written typically in a misspelled and grammatically incorrect version of English.
Mahoosive (adj.): exceptionally big; huge.
Man crush (n.): an intense and typically non-sexual liking or admiration felt by one man for another; a man who is the object of another's intense liking or admiration.
Obamacare (n.): an informal term for a federal law intended to improve access to health insurance for U.S. citizens. The official name of the law is the Affordable Care Act or (in full) the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Parm (adj.): of a dish cooked or served with Parmesan cheese.
Permadeath (n.): (in video games) a situation in which a character cannot reappear after having been killed.
Queso (n.): Short for "chile con queso."
Secret Santa (n.): an arrangement by which a group of friends or colleagues exchange Christmas presents anonymously, with each member of the group being assigned another member for whom to provide a small gift, typically costing no more than a set amount.
Shabby chic (n.): a style of interior decoration that uses furniture and soft furnishings that are or appear to be pleasingly old and slightly worn.
WTAF (abbrev.): what the actual f-ck.