‘Retweet,’ and ‘Woot’ Enter the Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary is often a great indicator of how language is evolving in line with trends and social habits. The latest edition is a great illustration of how we’ve adopted Twitter and its lingo with two new additions (of the 400 or so new entries) in particular catching our attention.

‘Retweet’ and ‘woot,’ are now in the dictionary! For anyone who has successfully managed to evade the Internet powerhouse that is Twitter over the last few years, the dictionary explains it pretty well:

Retweet: (on the social networking service Twitter) repost or forward (a message posted by another user).

Now, ‘woot,’ isn’t a word I personally use all that much but the definition is, as you’d expect, spot on:

Woot: (especially in electronic communication) used to express elation, enthusiasm, or triumph.

As a bit of a self-confessed word geek (I do get out as well, I promise) I’m always fascinated by the evolution of language in this way. The way we interact online has changed a lot since the verb ‘Google’ was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2006 and this is reflected by the most recent additions.

So congratulations, Twitter. Surely an influence over the Oxford English Dictionary must feel pretty good.

Woot!

About Stacey Cavanagh

I’m the Digital Marketing Manager at Tecmark and a lover of all things Internet and Apple. I’m a chronic #hashtagger, social media-er, compulsive blogger and a self confessed lover of inexcusably terrible jokes.