By TEDDYE SNELL
TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS — "Anablog: The old-fashioned journal you write in with crushed tree pulp, binding, and maybe some kind of locking mechanism. For some reason people used to like writing opinions only they read. It is a fad past its prime, but Borders still sells them" (Mo' Urban Dictionary).
"Yupscale: Affluent in an ostentatiously 'hip' sort of way; a combination of 'yuppie' and 'upscale'" (Mo' Urban Dictionary).
These are but two of myriad entries providing insight into the language of today's popular culture. Compiled by Aaron Peckham, "Mo' Urban Dictionary," is a print companion to 1999's "Urban Dictionary," which began as an online parody of dictionary.com.
Peckham began culling slang words and phrases and their meanings while he was an undergraduate student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, Calif., and went online Oct. 14, 2001. The online dictionary's definitions are written by users, and approximately 50 million people visited the site in 2006.
According the print version, every day in 2006, Urban Dictionary visitors sent in an average of 1,700 definitions. That year, the site's volunteer editors added definitions of 170,000 terms. In total, Urban Dictionary defines about 500,000 terms. The "Oxford English Dictionary," second edition, defines about 600,000 terms.
"Mo 'Urban Dictionary" has words for all sorts of situations. Remember that pair of jeans you've saved for years, wistfully hoping to lose enough weight to get back into? That would be an item of "hope couture."
There's also a term for beating on a faulty electronic device, hoping to bring it to its senses: It's called "percussive maintenance."
While many English teachers may rail against the acceptability of slang, lexicography Grant Barrett, editor of the "Double-Tongued Dictionary," believes sites such as Urban Dictionary and others have value.
"UD and Wiktionary have important roles," wrote Barrett on his blog, The Lexicographer's Rules. "Everyone owns the language we speak ... Sites like UD demonstrate that even junior high and high school kids - and many older kids, sometimes in their 30s and 40s, no doubt - love to play with language as much as the rest of us, and this is the very same group that is often criticized as being careless about language by the school marms and the mossbacks and the self-appointed hall monitors and crossing guards of grammar, the squares and the bores. Every entry contributed to an online dictionary is a love note to the English language."
Dr. Paul Westbrook, dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Northeastern State University, was unfamiliar with UD's Web site, but found it interesting.
"Despite my many hours a day online, I have not been aware of the Urban Dictionary until just now," said Westbrook. "It is almost like eavesdropping, looking at a site that is a communication between people who are not those you would normally be able to talk this informally with."
According to notes in "Mo' Urban Dictionary," some readers have written to the site to say UD has helped bridge the generation gap in classrooms and at home. UD surveys indicate about 60 percent of readers are male, and 65 percent are younger than 25.
Westbrook believes that data alone gives the site credibility.
"The site is not really appropriate for my classes," said Westbrook, who teaches a number of communication and speech courses. "However, I can see how it could be helpful for a sociology or social linguistics class, where slang and dialect are studied. The fact that so many young men are on this site gives it importance."
Tahlequah resident Micah Brooks fits UD's demographic, and has visited the site before.
"I didn't realize they had a printed version; that's pretty cool," said Brooks. "I went to the online site to look up something I'd heard in a conversation, but I can't remember exactly what it was."
Brooks loves learning new words, and made a confession most men his age would keep quiet.
"I used to read Webster's [dictionary], just for kicks," said Brooks. "My favorite word is 'loquacious.' I heard it on 'Cheers' one time, and had to look it up."
For those with more restricted vocabularies than Brooks', "loquacious" is an adjective, meaning talking or tending to talk much or freely. In other words, a chatter box.
UD has gained popularity in the media, being used as a source for Discovery Channel's "Cash Cab," a trivia game show; and "Time" magazine cited "celebutard" - a famous stupid person, a la Paris Hilton - as one of the neologisms that "got people talking" in 2006.
In the book's introduction, Peckham invites everyone to participate in developing the site.
"By publishing your definitions, Urban Dictionary puts the power of the dictionary where it belongs - in the hands of normal people who speak everyday language," wrote Peckham. "My ear is to the ground listening for the word on the street ... but I've only got two ears and it's a big world, so Urban Dictionary needs your help - when you hear the newest slang, spread the word, and define your world."
Check it out
Expand your knowledge of slang. Learn the meaning of words like "fauxhemian," "pregret," "resolutionary," and "eldercut," at www.urbandictionary.com.
