Sling your slang

There was a time when Urban Dictionary felt essential.

- JULIA CARPENTER

Twenty-six years ago, when then-college freshman Aaron Peckham founded the lo-fi website, internet lingo was making its way into the mainstream faster than the slang of any earlier, offline communities. Users submitted their own comprehensive definitions and colourful example sentences.But when the latest edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary hit shelves last November, words that were once defined in basements, at the bar stool or on Urban Dictiontary’s back pages got the official legacy lexicographical treatment.

For the first time in 20 years, and only the 12th time since 1898, Merriam-Webster added more than 5,000 new words. Rizz, doomscroll and dumbphone made the cut, signalling the legendary publication's embrace of a wider range of language sources.