Swole and tailwind: Here is a list of new words to add to your vocabulary this week

Mother: Be careful.  Don’t become a victim to any catfish.

Daughter:  I don’t get into water. How can I become a victim of catfish?  

Mother: I am talking about social media catfish.

Daughter: Social media catfish?  What do you mean?

Mother: ‘Catfish’ refers to a person who has a fake account on a social networking site.  A catfish sets up a fake account with the intention of tricking or deceiving people.

Daughter: Don’t worry. I’ll neither be a catfish nor become a victim of any catfish.

There are many old words in English which have new meanings now.  For example, the words ‘tailwind’ and ‘headwind’ have new meanings now.  A tailwind which refers to a wind that blows in the direction of travel and headwind that means a wind that blows against the direction of a travel are now used figuratively to refer to a force that either helps or hinders progress.

The English language constantly evolves.  New words are coined as per the linguistic needs of the people in different fields and on a regular basis the words are added to dictionaries. For example, the word ‘selfie’, which is widely used across the globe even by those who don’t speak English, was coined as the need to have a word for a self-clicked photograph arose.   It became so popular that the Oxford Dictionaries named ‘selfie’ as the word of the year 2013.

Recently, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary added 640 new words to its lexicon.  The words that have qualified to be included in the dictionary should be widely used by the users of the language and should have moved from specialized contexts to more general use.  Let’s look at some of the words and phrases.

The term ‘garbage time’ refers to the final moments of a game in which one side has a huge lead and it is difficult for the other side to win.   When it is garbage time in a game, the outcome of the game has already been decided. The term is used while talking about timed games such as football and basketball.   It can be used in other situations or competitions too. Look at this example:

• After two hours of the counting of votes, seeing the lead by a particular political party, some political analysts used the term “garbage time” to imply that the party that maintains a good lead is going to win.
• It is garbage time for Chennai Super Kings.  It is impossible for the other team to score 40 runs in the last over to win the match.

We have heard of the word ‘buzz’.  What is the meaning of the word ‘buzzy’?  If something is interesting, eye-catching and characterized by a lot of speculation and excitement and thus generates buzz, then we say it is buzzy.   

• Did you notice the girl in the café?   Isn’t she buzzy?
• Even before the movie is released, it is buzzy.
• These guys often use buzzy pop culture words.

Have you ever described someone as ‘swole’?   It refers to someone who is muscular.  It is a popular term used by those who are active on social media.

• See how the new actor looked like before he got swole.
• This guy is pretty swole.

The word ‘snowfall’ no longer means something that falls from the sky when it is cold.  Now it is an Internet term and it refers to a person who is overly sensitive and doesn’t agree with your social media post or comment.  This derogatory term is used to refer to those who take offence to anything and are as weak and fragile as a speck of snow.

“It is always thrilling and exciting for someone to be a catfish as long he is not caught.”