In so many words

Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary currently has more than 600,000 entries. Editors add about 1000 new words each year.
Oxford University Press

It's official. Skatepunk is now a formally-sanctioned way of defining someone. The word, along with a couple hundred others, was just added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

The OED, as it's often called, is the only complete record of English from the 1500s to today. So, if you're a word, being inducted into the Oxford dictionary means you've finally made it. Every quarter, the dictionary adds about 250 new entries.

The most common source of new words is new technology. This time around, the OED added hacktivist, hacktivism, cybrary, cybrarian, DVD, texting, text message, and nanobot.

The dictionary also added phrases that reflect our current culture, including speed dating, strip mall, biological clock, dust bunny, heroin chic, and Texas Hold 'Em.

Reporter Nikki Tundel talks to host Mary Lucia about the way words get nominated for the Oxford English Dictionary and discusses what the latest entries say about our society.

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