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NEW YORK: It's about freakin' time. The term "F-bomb" first surfaced in newspapers more than 20 years ago but will land on Tuesday for the first time in the mainstream Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, along with sexting, flexitarian, obesogenic, energy drink and life coach. In all, the company picks about 100 additions for the 114-year-old dictionary's annual update, gathering evidence of usage over several years in everything from media to the labels of beer bottles and boxes of frozen food. So who's responsible for lobbing F-bomb far and wide? Kory Stamper, an associate editor for Merriam-Webster, said she and her fellow word spies at the Massachusetts company traced it back to 1988, in a Newsday story that had the now-dead Mets catcher Gary Carter talking about how he had given them up, along with other profanities. But the word didn't really take off until the late 90s, after Bobby Knight went heavy on the F-bombs during a locker room tirade. ap |
Labels: World
