The ‘fantoosh’-tic New Entries To The Oxford English Dictionary Are Here!

The ‘puggle’ will be making its appearance in the dictionary as the adorable coss between a beagle and a pug, along with its cute friends ‘maltipoo’ (Maltese + poodle) and ‘dorgi’ (dachshund + corgi).

Budding mixologists will be glad to know that the grasshopper cocktail has officially been inducted into the English language. For those of you wondering what that contains, it goes for a milky/minty taste with a combo of crème de menthe and crème de cacao. The drink has been around since 1919 – so it appears it only takes a century of use for a word to be legitimised!

Of course, the English language would be nothing without its regional vernaculars and their terms. 2019 is highlighting the richness of the tongues of Scottish folk who have a knack for capturing a precise situation or a nuanced meaning with a single word. For example, there is the noun ‘bide-in’ (with a cutesy diminutive form ‘bidie-in’) which describes a person with whom you live and are romantically involved but to whom you are not married.

Then there is the fabulous word ‘fantoosh’ which is said to have originated from French ‘fantoche’ that was picked up by soldiers in the First World War. The French word initially referred to military uniform that was worn in an unusual and eccentric way. Once it entered the Scottish language it gradually evolved to describe someone or something ostentatious, decadent or flashy.

Of course, there is the gorgeously logical ‘sitooterie’ which with a bit of sounding out becomes the recognisable ‘sit out-ery’. A ‘sitooterie’ does what it says on the tin and refers to anywhere where you can have a breather or short respite from an energy draining activity or even the hustle and bustle of daily life.

Students of Linguistics and English Literature should explore the evolution of words to inform literary and linguistic analysis of texts. This could come in very handy with unseen material and admissions assessments.