'YOLO!' Oxford English Dictionary lives life on the edge with new entries

OED's latest list of new words includes "clickbait".
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LONDON -- Text-speak-phobe Prince Charles may well bristle at the idea (or maybe he'll embrace the word now it's been normalised), but "YOLO" has made it into the Oxford English Dictionary.

In its latest update of new words deemed to be in such widespread usage as to be dictionary-worthy, it stiffly defines the acronym for "you only live once" as "used to express the view that one should make the most of the present moment without worrying about the future (often as a rationale for impulsive or reckless behaviour)."

It may have been an exercise in "clickbait" -- another new word included -- but the OED has also listed some rather less salubrious entries.


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Schoolkids -- and frankly many maturity-stunted adults -- now have more cause for tittering when scanning the dictionary for naughty words because the OED has deemed it necessary to define "butt-fuck" (no, you don't need us to spell out its meaning), while "crap" and "jack-off" have also made the cut.

You at the back -- do grow up!

In the case of new entry "biatch", there is some debate over the correct spelling, with "one of many variant spellings of biatch first recorded in lyrics by hip-hop artist Too Short from 1986," explains OED Senior Assistant Editor Jonathan Dent in his notes on the update.

A slew of Roald Dahlisms also make it into the dictionary, such as "human bean."

Other words to catch the eye include "cheese eater," "freemium", "slacktivist," "moobs" and "vom."

Read the full list of freshly minted words here.

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