Open Dictionary word of the week: hat-tip

We are constantly monitoring the language to ensure that we keep an up-to-date record.  You can be a part of this enterprise by suggesting a word for our Open Dictionary. Every Thursday Laine Redpath-Cole picks a new entry and goes on about it for a bit. This week’s word is:

hat-tip (noun)

an acknowledgement by a blogger of someone who has brought something to the blogger’s attention

Now the “hat-tip” has long been a simple courtesy, not some kind of moral commandment; its omission from any citation is in no way the sort of punishable offence that failing to attribute any borrowed content would be.

(Submitted by anon from the United Kingdom)

Like in the old days when gentlemen used to tip their hats as a way of acknowledging each other, HT is one of those internet slang terms you use to describe briefly what you would be doing if you were visible to everyone IRL and performing an action …

We’re doing very well preparing for the time when we’re just heads. Body language will take on a whole new meaning. Where it now refers to the way we speak by using our body instead of words  to express our thoughts and feelings, I think the definition will change in the future. Something like:

Body-language: the language that came into being as we gradually and then completely lost the need for a body. Body-language (also known as bondage) is the remnant language that describes physical actions we would have performed in the past in response to sensory stimuli. For example, ROFLMAO (rolling on the floor laughing my ass off) used to mean literally rolling around on the floor in a pile of flesh, bones and appendages laughing in response to something funny.

Note: For literally please refer to the new meaning of literally which means ‘IRL‘  – it was not possible to laugh your ass off even when we had them. Well, it was possible to laugh your ass off when we had them … but only as part of a well-balanced diet with frequent exercise.

Note: For diet and exercise please refer to the old meanings of these two words.

Note: By ‘refer’ we mean: ask Siri.

And you thought dictionaries had no future.