[Opinion] McJob

Dog`s breakfast, Frankenfood and agony aunt are the words that even people who think themselves as fluent English speakers find unfamiliar. According to the 11th edition of Merriam-Webster`s Collegiate Dictionary, they mean a hodgepodge, genetically-engineered food and a columnist giving advice on readers` problems respectively. When Americans say `a former dot-commer working a McJob was listening to some headbangers while laying out the last of his dead presidents for longnecks,` they mean `a former worker at an online outfit` having `a low paying and dead-end job` was listening to some `hard rock` while laying out the last of his `bills` for `beer served in a battle with a long neck.`

Languages continue to evolve. They reflect fashion, trends and thoughts of times. Editors of Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an American dictionary that records human history in the form of words, read through major newspapers, magazines and other publications thoroughly every day. Once a decade, Merriam-Webster updates its best-selling dictionary, and the 11th edition includes 10,000 new words. Typically, it takes 10 to 20 years before a word moves out of usage by small groups into the larger populace. In line with the Internet revolution, however, such words as dot-commer and bubble made the cut in five years.

Merriam-Webster is such a widely-recognized American dictionary that it is said `a word is not a word if it is not included in Merriam-Webster.` When names of places or people become parts of the dictionary, it is seen as either an honor or a disgrace to the subjects. Frankenfood adds the name of the monster from Shelly`s horror fiction to the word `food.` The word first appeared on the British Times in 1992 by Prof. Paul Luis at Boston University. McJob combines McDonald, the American fast food giant, with a job. While the company sells its hamburgers and happy images to people throughout the world, employees at the company remain low-paid and poorly-trained, Eric Shulocher wrote in his book titled `The Fast Food Empire.`

New Collins English Dictionary also introduces some new words such as Bushism, which refers to slips of tongue characterized by U.S. President George W. Bush. The dictionary also contains some of Bush`s favorite expressions including regime change and rogue nation. Korean dictionaries will not likely contain such words as `Young Sam-like,` `Dae Jung-like` and `Roh Moo Hyun-like,` which are widely spread among the general public. Besides, it will likely take some time to define the meanings of those words precisely.

Kim Sun-deok, Editorial Writer, yuri@donga.com