From Mrs Robinson to asshat: the latest entries in the Oxford English Dictionary
- The latest revision adds 1,400 entries, many of which are related to cinema
- Phrases from popular culture are added as long as they stand the test of time
XXX, Mrs Robinson, and Tarantinoesque.
These are among the 1,400-plus new entries in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), considered the world’s most authoritative record of the English language, during its latest revision this October.
Many are related to film, since that is one of the themes the editorial team is focusing on – a fundamental change in the way they approach neologisms (newly coined words or expressions).
English film critic Mark Kermode was enlisted as special consultant to look over the cinematic entries, which include the filmmaking jargon “Foley”, the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to videos to enhance audio quality; terms such as “scream queen”, which refers to an actress noted for her roles in horror films; and phrases from famous film quotes like “not in Kansas any more” (The Wizard of Oz, 1939), which means to be in an unfamiliar place or situation, undergoing a new experience; and names of characters, such as the alluring Mrs Robinson, played by Anne Bancroft in The Graduate in 1967. (“Mrs Robinson, you are trying to seduce me, aren’t you?”). The term was also popularised by singer-songwriters Simon and Garfunkel’s soundtrack to the film.
“A lot of people would know the cultural meaning of Mrs Robinson, a middle-aged attractive woman who couldn’t help falling in love or having a sexual relationship with a much younger man. It’s known from The Graduate,” says Franky Lau Ho-yin, head of dictionary publishing for the Oxford University Press in China.
“When we decide to include a word, that particular phrase should be sufficient enough to reflect the linguistic, historical or social significance,” he adds.