Webster’s dictionary | The Adobo Chronicles

images OXFORD, England (The Adobo Chronicles) – Webster’s Dictionary has chosen its ‘word of the year,’ and it is not really a word. So has Oxford Dictionary, and it’s actually two words.

Webster’s word of the year is the suffix, ‘ism,’ and was the most searched dictionary entry in all of 2015. People have been searching the meaning of words such as racism, sexism, ageism and terrorism. Webster says it’s a reflection of what people around the world have been reading in the news, or concerned about as they go about their everyday lives in these troubled times.

Oxford Dictionary, on the other hand, has chosen an international word(s) for its new 2015 entry: laglag bala.

Laglag bala refers to a scheme at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) whereby unsuspecting passengers are questioned and detained for having live bullets in their luggage. It appears that the scheme is part of a modus operandi by some unscrupulous airport personnel aimed at extorting money from local and foreign passengers.

Laglag bala was the most searched term in Oxford Dictionaries, online and off-line and has dominated local and international news for most of the last quarter of 2015.

Yet another international record for the Philippines!

San Francisco, California (The Adobo Chronicles) – Last month, The Adobo Chronicles reported that Oxford has added ‘selfitis’ to the English Dictionary after the word dominated social media for most of 2014. Selfitis is defined as “an inflammation of the ego” and refers to the obsessive compulsive desire to take photos of one’s self and post them on social media as a way to make up for the lack of self-esteem and to fill a gap in intimacy.

Today, Webster’s announced that it is adding several new words to the 2015 edition of its dictionary for the American English language, thanks to the super storm that is currently pounding on most of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The new words: Stormaggedon, Rainpocalypse and Floodgate.

Stormaggedon and Rainpocalypse both mean the impending doom and destruction caused by a storm, typhoon or heavy rains. Floodgate (think Watergate or Irangate), a word entry that is already included in Webster’s Dictionary, takes on a new second meaning, and that is “a weather anomaly resulting in flash flood warnings that people receive on their mobile phones.”

Congratulations to the Bay Area for its great contributions to modern language!