The number of submissions to the Open Dictionary in April and May was within the normal range, although in May the quality of entries was slightly higher than normal with almost half of submissions being published.
A good number of food-related entries were submitted over the two months. Some are foreign terms adopted into English, including arancini, feijoada, itamae, kompot and uramaki. Others, such as aquafaba, cloud bread, cloud egg, and zoodles reflect current trends in food, especially clean eating. If you are really on trend you might be munching unicorn food, while if you’re hungry but can’t be bothered to cook you could go for a non-recipe. For a drink to go with your food there’s the drinks bar or beverage bar, terms for a bar area in a home (though you probably won’t be going for the poopootov cocktail). After all that it would not be surprising if you fell into a food coma.
Potica is an entry where food and politics overlap, and politics and public life were well represented, with backdoor diplomacy, EU27, Slotus, snap election and the phrase on the campaign trail. Showboat (verb and noun) also came to attention recently in a political context, though its use extends wider than that. Meanwhile business and the economy gave us the initialism DBA, as well as nearshore, pre-meeting, rate card, stealth startup, tollbooth economy, touchpoint and, borrowed from politics, town hall meeting.
My Open Dictionary word of the month for April and May, well-liked, was submitted by Darshi from India. It’s the kind of thing that seems almost too obvious to bother with, yet it is a useful compound whose meaning is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s also a perfect example of someone noticing a gap in Macmillan Dictionary and taking the time and trouble to plug it. This is what crowdsourced lexicography is all about, so thanks to Darshi and all those who contribute, some on a regular basis. Your efforts are much appreciated and help us make the dictionary a resource that is improving all the time.
Thanks for all your submissions and do keep them coming. If there’s a word or expression that you think deserves inclusion in the Open Dictionary you can submit it here. Don’t forget to check first to make sure your word isn’t in our dictionary already.
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