Oxford English Dictionary accused of dumbing down after including slang words such as ‘sumfin’ and ‘whatevs’ – The Sun

THE Oxford English Dictionary has been accused of dumbing down after including a string of slang words such as “sumfin” and “whatevs”.

Word boffs have also listed “summink” and “sumthin” as variants of “something” rather than mispronunciations.

And they define “whatevs” as a response to “indicate the speaker is disinclined to engage with, or is indifferent to the matter”.

A number of Star Wars-related terms have been included such as lightsaber, Jedi and The Force.

And in a nod to US President Donald Trump’s much-used term, fake news has been added as “the circulation of inaccurate and untrustworthy news stories specifically on social media”.

But some were left stunned by the list of new words.

Dave Paxton wrote online: “Well, it’s the simplest solution. If you can’t maintain the level of education in this country, you might as well lower the standards.”

And a user called “1nails” added: “I spent more than a lot of my time at school learning to speak English. Now I despair the way people talk — all down to the slovenly American way that they speak English.”

Other new words in the dictionary are “nomophobia” (anxiety of having no access to a mobile phone) and “omnishambles” (a mismanaged situation).

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