Sunday, May 11, 2008

Do Not Be Taking Urban Dictionary seriously...

...
The idea that anyone would take the unfiltered content posted to urbandictionary dot com seriously is crazy to me. A disclosure at the bottom of their web pages notes: "Urban Dictionary is not appropriate for all audiences." No duh.


A recent article in the NY Times Magazine online noted the value of the iconic Oxford English Dictionary in seeking ". . .guidance in the finer points of usage..." for words and phrases, a task well served by the O.E.D.

As an example of the hazards out there on the web for the linguistically-challenged writer, the writer notes the Urban Dictionary 'usage' given for the slang rotflmao: "A chatroom abbreviation used mainly by imbeciles, usually in response to something mildly, often very mildly, amusing. People who use this type of shorthand should be avoided like the Spanish flu."

Well, yeah. But the more expected definition is given first: "Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off."

Either you want to say that or you do not.


Urban Dictionary is full of prank, pornographic, and downright stupid definitions. An online O.E.D. it is not. Unless you are trying to understand your teen daughter's 15 y/o boyfriend I am not sure why you would want to believe much, if anything, found on UD.


Hat tip to: A.Word.A.Day newsletter

1 comment:

D.B. Echo said...

Urban Dictionary is completely serious! Bask in the scintillating brilliance of this definition of the word "hey".

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hey

1. hey
418 up, 72 down

A contraction for "Hello, I find you attractive and would like to dance with you, share some drinks with you, and then perhaps have sex with you. Nothing serious, of course, and I doubt that this will result in a long term relationship, but I would appeciate you considering my proposal."

Guy at bar to attractive girl: "Hey."

Attractive girl to guy: "Go to hell, creep." (Moves to other side of bar.)

by D.B. Echo Mar 4, 2005