It’s update time again, so if you’re ready, sit back, chillax, and we’ll loop you in with a

look at the new words, phrases, and compounds added to the OED this quarter.

Food and drink

Get ready to name your poison, whether it’s alcoholic or non-alcoholic, because it’s
cocktail hour at the OED, with a host of new entries and senses elucidating the history
of the mixed drink and its cultural significance.

If you are partaking of whisky, cocktails, or other alcoholic beverages, please remember
to drink sensibly: you wouldn’t want to end up steaming drunk—in Scotland often
simply steaming—or to wake up the morning after feeling hanging.

Politics and society

An example of slightly-less-than-parliamentary language in this update originates in
political satire. Omnishambles was picked up by people on Twitter and elsewhere,
before breaking into mainstream. UK Labour leader Ed Miliband claimed that ‘even
people within Downing Street’ were referring to an ‘omnishambles Budget’.

Cognitive dissonance, first described as a sense of discomfort with inconsistent or

conflicting beliefs by psychologist Leon Festinger in 1957, is now used to refer to
perceived instances of inconsistency in a person’s beliefs or opinions, and especially in
their views on politics and society.

In a galaxy far, far away

Star Wars fans eagerly awaiting the release of The Rise of Skywalker in December can
pass the time by checking out the linguistic histories of lightsabre, Jedi, Padawan, and
the Force (with a capital F).

Please come back in three months to hear about more new additions and revisions to
the definitive record of the English language. xoxo
Oxford English Dictionary update, October 2019
1. “I don't go getting ………………………. I just have a drink or two to be sociable.”
(1984 I. Banks Wasp Factory (1990) iii. 55 )
A) lightsabre
B) omnishambles
C) steaming

2. “Would you please tell us your airline? We would like to …………………… on your
luggage situation.”
@JFKairport 21 Jan. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive)

A) name your poison

B) loop them in
C) cognitively dissonate
D) omnishamble

3. To calm down and relax; to take it easy - ……………………………………………..

4. Hung-over; exhausted, ill, experiencing a hang-over - ……….……………………..

5. “It’s a testament to the strength of the interminable Brexit …………………………..

gripping our island neighbour that record numbers of British are looking to become
Irish citizens.”
The Irish Times

(Chiefly in political contexts: “a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, or

is characterized by a series of blunders, chaos and miscalculations.”)

A) omnishambles
B) Force
C) Padawan
D) cognitive dissonance

6. ………………………………..  noun. Psychology. = a state of mental discomfort that

happens when a person holds beliefs, opinions, etc., which are inconsistent, or
which conflict with an aspect of his or her behaviour; inconsistency between a
person's beliefs, behaviours, etc.

7. In the fictional universe of the Star Wars films, there is a mystical universal
energy field. Certain individuals, such as the ………………….. , can harness it to gain
special powers or abilities. The expression may the ……………… be with you, is used
to wish someone good luck, courage, etc.

In the fictional universe of the Star Wars films: an apprentice Jedi is a youthful,
naive, or untrained person. The new expression for a young Jedi is
………………………… .
Answers.

1C

2B

3 chillax

4 hanging

5A

6 cognitive dissonance

7 Jedi, Force, Padawan