If you find yourself seated diagonally across from someone at a cash tournament while enjoying your grandmother’s renowned blueberry dessert, the atmosphere might escalate into a confrontational situation. To help decipher this scenario, the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has recently included seven new terms from Canadian English.
The newly added words are as follows:
– Cashspiel (noun): A competition held for cash rewards, often associated with curling tournaments.
– Elbows up (phrase): Signifying readiness to defend oneself aggressively or retaliate.
– Grunt (noun): A dessert made of stewed fruit topped with biscuit or dough, commonly cooked on a stovetop.
– Kitty-corner (adjective and adverb): Positioned diagonally across from someone or something.
– Kokum (noun): Primarily in Cree culture, referring to a grandmother or elderly woman.
– Land acknowledgment (noun): A formal statement recognizing the original Indigenous inhabitants of colonized land.
– Point form (noun and adjective): Information presented in a concise list format.
The OED employs diverse methods to track the introduction of new English words, including crowd contributions, academic research on Canadian English usage, and software analysis of global word frequencies. The addition of “elbows up” this year reflects the word’s increasing popularity.
According to Danica Salazar, the OED’s World English Editor, Canada’s significant cultural impact, exemplified by movements like “Elbows Up” and “Heated Rivalry,” has drawn international attention. These new Canadian terms enrich the global lexicon, potentially shaping perceptions of Canadians among English speakers.
Salazar noted that English naturally assimilates influences from other languages it encounters, such as Indigenous languages in Canada. For instance, the Cree term “kokum” illustrates this linguistic integration.
While “bullet points” is a widely recognized term globally, “point form” is a distinctive Canadian alternative that offers versatility. Salazar, despite having Canadian relatives, had not encountered “point form” previously but finds it a practical addition to her vocabulary due to its adaptability as an adjective.