WWW... :Check out that 'sex burger' on the corner!
If you've ever felt out of touch with the most current and obscure slang, there's help for you yet. Trendy yet useful,
UrbanDictionary.com is anything but your Oxford Pocket Companion. The Web site contains one of the hippest online dictionaries around, defining words and phrases from "earjacking" (eavesdropping on a conversation you have no business hearing) to "Zymocenosilicaphobia" (the fear of an empty drinking cup).
So how does it work? Like
Wikipedia for the linguistically creative,
Urban Dictionary receives information from its users, keeping the site constantly up-to-date. The slang bible also allows for multiple definitions, with varying degrees of accuracy, to be published. In fact, over a 1,000 new entries are added every day as definitions are produced and edited collaboratively online.
It's fun to imagine that an intellectually curious, 65-year-old grandmother invented this site in an attempt to keep up with the next generation, but it wasn't.
Urban Dictionary was founded in 2001 by Aaron Peckham, a man-we can only assume-dying to know what the word "dawg" really means, just like the rest of us. A computer science student, Peckham launched the site to compare the slang used by university students in different parts of California.
Like in other standard dictionaries, the definitions on this site are listed in order of popularity. Visitors can give each definition a "thumbs-up" or "thumbs-down" ranking. This can be a useful hint when some words, such as "frontin'," boast over a dozen conflicting meanings. Unlike high school, definition popularity usually correlates to linguistic accuracy.
There are only three guidelines for writing definitions: write for a large audience, don't advertise your Web site and don't name your friends. The last rule exists to prevent people from defining a "hanging wedgie" as "what we did to John last week."
Clearly,
Urban Dictionary is not for Joe Simpleton. Some of the definitions can get quite complex and technical in nature. For instance, "a big pile of poo in a urinal" is defined as "usually means there's a pile of poo in a urinal." What exactly does the "usually" include here? Are there cases when the phrase can have other meanings? The ambiguity can keep you puzzled for hours.
And
UrbanDictionary.com isn't just for slang, either. On the Web site, you can also find Internet jargon and pop culture references, from bandwidth to Zeppelin lyrics. It even has a word of the day for slow learners and ghetto virgins alike.
The site has such a big cult following that a hardcover version was recently published, described as a "catalogue of pop culture." So if you want to fit in, it's time to frequent
www.urbandictionary.com because it's pretty "wickass."
Be the first to comment on this story