Vuvuzela blows into Oxford Dictionary of English
Table of Contents
The vuvuzela, the horn instrument used by soccer fans especially during the last World Cup, has been included in the latest edition of the Oxford Dictionary of English.
The dictionary defines the horn as "a long plastic instrument, in the shape of a trumpet, that makes a very loud noise when you blow it and is popular with football fans in South Africa."
It was chosen by 75 per cent of more than 320 linguists from more than 60 countries, who were asked to choose the word with the biggest impact on the tournament.
The word vuvuzela has only been in common use around the world since it began to be heard at the World Cup matches in South Africa that were broadcast to 400 million fans around the globe.
Vuvuzela is just one of more than 2,000 new entries in the third edition of the dictionary - separate from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and first published in 1998.
Other newcomers include: tweetup (a meeting arranged through Twitter), cheeseball (lacking taste or style) and a turducken (a roast dish consisting of a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey).
New Oxford Dictionary also added the word social media (web sites and applications used for the formation of social networks) and microblogging (the publication of short texts on blogs and websites).
A spokesman for Oxford University Press said the dictionary is based on a huge "word bank" which is continually being added to.
Also see:
The dictionary defines the horn as "a long plastic instrument, in the shape of a trumpet, that makes a very loud noise when you blow it and is popular with football fans in South Africa."
The new accolade for the horns, whose buzzing has been compared to a hornet's nest, came after vuvuzela was voted the word of the World Cup in a survey of global linguists last month.
It was chosen by 75 per cent of more than 320 linguists from more than 60 countries, who were asked to choose the word with the biggest impact on the tournament.
The word vuvuzela has only been in common use around the world since it began to be heard at the World Cup matches in South Africa that were broadcast to 400 million fans around the globe.
Vuvuzela is just one of more than 2,000 new entries in the third edition of the dictionary - separate from the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and first published in 1998.
Other newcomers include: tweetup (a meeting arranged through Twitter), cheeseball (lacking taste or style) and a turducken (a roast dish consisting of a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey).
New Oxford Dictionary also added the word social media (web sites and applications used for the formation of social networks) and microblogging (the publication of short texts on blogs and websites).
A spokesman for Oxford University Press said the dictionary is based on a huge "word bank" which is continually being added to.
Also see:
