Oxford dictionary - new words - twerk

http://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2013/aug/28/twerk-geek-chic-oxford-dictionary

Twerk and geek chic make the Oxford Dictionary - but which words would you add?

A list of words newly added to the online dictionary has been released. What would be your additions, and which would you remove?

• Hannah Freeman
• theguardian.com, Wednesday 28 August 2013 14.53 BST
• Jump to comments (252)

Which words would you include? Photograph: Daisy Images / Alamy/Alamy

Four times a year, the Oxford Dictionaries Online is updated. It's a buzzworthy event. Some familiar words and phrases have made it in this time, while others are new to me - 'babymoon', anyone?

Some of these additions are self-explanatory - it's not hard to work out that 'cake pop' is cake on a stick - while others, like 'jorts', aren't so obvious. Until Miley Cyrus's performance at the MTV Video Music Awards, I wasn't sure what twerking was, but now most people can give an accurate description of the dance (although few may wish to demonstrate the moves).

Other words are familiar but the meanings have changed. 'Unlike' has been hijacked by social media and 'BYOD', which to me means bring your own drink, can now also mean bring your own device. Best to know which it is before you take a bottle of red in to work with you.

I may be dappy, but other additions I'm not so sure are necessary; do we really need a shorter word for guacamole? 'Guac'. Srsly? And isn't 'pear cider' perry? Here's a selection of some of the words and phrases with their definitions, so you can judge for yourself.

• apols, pl. n. (informal): apologies.

• A/W, abbrev.: autumn/winter (denoting or relating to fashion designed for the autumn and winter seasons of a particular year). (See also S/S)

• babymoon, n. (informal): a relaxing or romantic holiday taken by parents-to-be before their baby is born; a period of time following the birth of a baby during which the new parents can focus on establishing a bond with their child.

• balayage, n.: a technique for highlighting hair in which the dye is painted on in such a way as to create a graduated, natural-looking effect.

• bitcoin, n.: a digital currency in which transactions can be performed without the need for a central bank.

• blondie, n.: a small square of dense, pale-coloured cake, typically of a butterscotch or vanilla flavour.

• buzzworthy, adj. (informal): likely to arouse the interest and attention of the public, either by media coverage or word of mouth.

• BYOD, n.: abbreviation of 'bring your own device': the practice of allowing the employees of an organisation to use their own computers, smartphones, or other devices for work purposes.

• cake pop, n.: a small round piece of cake coated with icing or chocolate and fixed on the end of a stick so as to resemble a lollipop.

• chandelier earring, n.: a long, elaborate dangling earring, typically consisting of various tiers of gemstones, crystals, beads, etc.

• click and collect, n.: a shopping facility whereby a customer can buy or order goods from a store's website and collect them from a local branch.

• dappy, adj. (informal): silly, disorganized, or lacking concentration.

• derp, exclam. & n. (informal): (used as a substitute for) speech regarded as meaningless or stupid, or to comment on a foolish or stupid action.

• digital detox, n.: a period of time during which a person refrains from using electronic devices such as smartphones or computers, regarded as an opportunity to reduce stress or focus on social interaction in the physical world.
• double denim, n.: a style of dress in which a denim jacket or shirt is worn with a pair of jeans or a denim skirt, often regarded as a breach of fashion etiquette.

• emoji, n: a small digital image or icon used to express an idea or emotion in electronic communication.

• fauxhawk, n: a hairstyle in which a section of hair running from the front to the back of the head stands erect, intended to resemble a Mohican haircut (in which the sides of the head are shaved).

• FIL, n.: a person's father-in-law (see also MIL, BIL, SIL).

• flatform, n.: a flat shoe with a high, thick sole.

• FOMO, n.: fear of missing out: anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on a social media website.

• food baby, n.: a protruding stomach caused by eating a large quantity of food and supposedly resembling that of a woman in the early stages of pregnancy.

• geek chic, n.: the dress, appearance, and culture associated with computing and technology enthusiasts, regarded as stylish or fashionable.

• girl crush, n. (informal): an intense and typically non-sexual liking or admiration felt by one woman or girl for another.

• grats, pl. n. (informal): congratulations.

• guac, n.: guacamole.

• hackerspace, n.: a place in which people with an interest in computing or technology can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge.

• internet of things, n.: a proposed development of the Internet in which everyday objects have network connectivity, allowing them to send and receive data.

• jorts, pl. n.: denim shorts.

• LDR, n.: a long-distance relationship.

• me time, n. (informal): time spent relaxing on one's own as opposed to working or doing things for others, seen as an opportunity to reduce stress or restore energy.

• MOOC [massive open online course], n.: a course of study made available over the internet without charge to a very large number of people.

• omnishambles, n. (informal): a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterised by a string of blunders and miscalculations.

• pear cider, n.: an alcoholic drink made from the fermented juice of pears.

• phablet, n.: a smartphone having a screen which is intermediate in size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet computer.

• pixie cut, n.: a woman's short hairstyle in which the hair is cropped in layers, typically so as to create a slightly tousled effect.

• selfie, n. (informal): a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.

• space tourism, n.: the practice of travelling into space for recreational purposes.

• squee, exclam. & v. & n. (informal): (used to express) great delight or excitement.

• srsly, adv. (informal): short for 'seriously'.

• street food, n.: prepared or cooked food sold by vendors in a street or other public location for immediate consumption.

• TL;DR, abbrev.: 'too long didn't read': used as a dismissive response to a lengthy online post, or to introduce a summary of a lengthy post.

• twerk, v.: dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving thrusting hip movements and a low, squatting stance.

• unlike, v.: withdraw one's liking or approval of (a web page or posting on a social media website that one has previously liked).

• vom, v. & n. (informal): (be) sick; vomit.

Which words, that have to this point been overlooked, do you think should be included in the next intake? And, more controversially, which do you think should be left out? Points will also be awarded to the best use of these new additions.
NB: Points do not mean prizes.

Male and female brains wired differently, scans reveal - article - the guardian

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/dec/02/men-women-brains-wired-differently

Male and female brains wired differently, scans reveal

Maps of neural circuitry show women's brains are suited to social skills and memory, men's perception and co-ordination

 

• Ian Sample, science correspondent
• The Guardian, Monday 2 December 2013 20.40 GMT
• Jump to comments (843)

Neural map of a typical man's brain. Photograph: National Academy of Sciences/PA

Scientists have drawn on nearly 1,000 brain scans to confirm what many had surely concluded long ago: that stark differences exist in the wiring of male and female brains.
Maps of neural circuitry showed that on average women's brains were highly connected across the left and right hemispheres, in contrast to men's brains, where the connections were typically stronger between the front and back regions.
Ragini Verma, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, said the greatest surprise was how much the findings supported old stereotypes, with men's brains apparently wired more for perception and co-ordinated actions, and women's for social skills and memory, making them better equipped for multitasking.
"If you look at functional studies, the left of the brain is more for logical thinking, the right of the brain is for more intuitive thinking. So if there's a task that involves doing both of those things, it would seem that women are hardwired to do those better," Verma said. "Women are better at intuitive thinking. Women are better at remembering things. When you talk, women are more emotionally involved – they will listen more."
She added: "I was surprised that it matched a lot of the stereotypes that we think we have in our heads. If I wanted to go to a chef or a hairstylist, they are mainly men."
Neural map of a typical woman's brain. Photograph: National Academy of Sciences/PA The findings come from one of the largest studies to look at how brains are wired in healthy males and females. The maps give scientists a more complete picture of what counts as normal for each sex at various ages. Armed with the maps, they hope to learn more about whether abnormalities in brain connectivity affect brain disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.
Verma's team used a technique called diffusion tensor imaging to map neural connections in the brains of 428 males and 521 females aged eight to 22. The neural connections are much like a road system over which the brain's traffic travels.
The scans showed greater connectivity between the left and right sides of the brain in women, while the connections in men were mostly confined to individual hemispheres. The only region where men had more connections between the left and right sides of the brain was in the cerebellum, which plays a vital role in motor control. "If you want to learn how to ski, it's the cerebellum that has to be strong," Verma said. Details of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Male and female brains showed few differences in connectivity up to the age of 13, but became more differentiated in 14- to 17-year-olds.
"It's quite striking how complementary the brains of women and men really are," Ruben Gur, a co-author on the study, said in a statement. "Detailed connectome maps of the brain will not only help us better understand the differences between how men and women think, but it will also give us more insight into the roots of neurological disorders, which are often sex-related."

Evaluation and conclusion first draft of coursework

Evaluation

If I had to repeat this investigation I would change and improve several aspects. For example I would plan before hand what teacher would be with me whilst undergoing the investigation as because the investigation took place the week before the summer holidays I really struggled to find a teacher that would spend the time supervising. Also I would involve more children rather than just two and if I had extra time maybe even include both genders so I could compare the children not only through children with dyslexia and typically developing children but also the difference in vocabuarly and politeness strategies used in boys and girls.

Lexis conclusion

In conclusion I found that  child A tended to use more discourse markers such as ‘well’ more frequently than child B in order to make her speech more spontaneous. Whereas child B doesn’t always respond directly to the question asked of her. I also found that there is a difference in pronoun use between child A and B. For example, child A tends to use more 2^nd person pronouns such as ‘you’ however child B seems to only use first person pronouns. In graph 1, this is shown and supports my hypothesis. Another of my findings is relating to lexis is that child A has a higher average word count per turn taken than child B and even uses more politeness theory acts and face threatening acts than child B.

 

 Grammar conclusion

In conclusion, I found that child A doesn’t use any imperatives and child B uses two. This could be because child A uses more polinteness theory acts and face threatening acts like stated above which don’t involve imperatives. The past tense seems to be the most popular tense used by both children however, this could be because interrogatives were being asked by the other speaker, being myself, the teacher or the other child, and the interrogatives being asked were about past events.  I finally found out that chilkd A and child B’s syntactical structures are quite different. Child A continuously uses much longer and more complex sentences than child B. I think this is because  child A is more confident than child B when speaking spontaneously.