As time has moved forward, many words have been added to the Oxford English Dictionary””some relevant, and some not so much.

But now you can’t really help but scratch your head at the amount of ridiculous words being added lately and wonder if we’re all just that screwed when it comes to the future of this planet, or if this is all just acceptable evolution.

Just added to the dictionary are words like “sexting” (to text message sexual material); “retweet” (to share something others have said or shared on the Twitter); “jeggings” (a horrific combination of jeans and leggings, best shown off by Conan O’Brien); “woot” (an internet–age indicator of excitement, or a joyful cheer); and “cyberbullying” (one of the acceptable new words, which is the title for bullying over the internet).

But the words aren’t just randomly chosen as they appear to be popular””they’re entered into a database of over 2 billion words, showing whether they’re basically just a one–hit wonder, or if they’re used so commonly that it becomes apparent the words aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Oxford Dictionary editor Angus Stevenson says “It’s how the dictionary has always worked””we get as much evidence as we can so we know it’s not just a small number of people using the word and it’s not going to disappear. There’s no official panel of cabinet ministers for new words or anything like that. For example, ‘woot'””I don’t use it personally, but that’s not relevant. It’s someone saying ‘hurrah’ on Facebook, then their friends see it, and it spreads.”

Even so, you have to wonder if words like this being added to the Oxford is only an indicator of an immense, oncoming doom, or if it’s all inconsequential.

What do you think of Oxford’s new additions?

[Source: The Telegraph]