The Cambridge Dictionary has shared a list of over 3000 words it’s added to its dictionary this year, and the new words under the gaming category are…questionable, to say the least.
In a post on its website, the Cambridge Dictionary runs down some of the new words it’s added to its ranks so far in 2024, with categories like “slang and informal language”, “music”, and “modern life” all getting new additions.
Of course, “gaming” is also one of the categories, and new words that have been added to the dictionary in this vein this year include “MMORPG”, “PvP”, and “speedrun”, to name but a few.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines “speedrun” as completing a game “as quickly as possible, especially by taking advantage of any glitches”, which is mostly fine.
“Side quest”, meanwhile, is defined as “a part of a computer game that hs its own aim and story but is not part of the main game”. I guess we can let that one slide, although there are plenty of pedantic things we could say about it.
Things get a little weird, though, when we look at the Dictionary’s definition for “PvP”. The definition itself is a touch wobbly, referring to a game in which “there are many players who are each other’s opponents”, which feels a bit off. Is Tekken not a PvP game when played offline?
The example, though, is where things break down a little. The Dictionary’s example reads as follows:
If you don’t enjoy PvP, how about PvE, or “player versus engine”?
Obviously, that’s not what PvE stands for, but the strange thing is that the Cambridge Dictionary does get this right on the actual definition page for PvE, referring to “player versus environment”. How strange!
That’s not all, though. The Cambridge Dictionary lists “backread” as one of its online gaming-related words, but the definition of backread simply relates to scrolling through a backlog of group messages to catch up with the latest info.
“Backread” doesn’t feel like an explicitly gaming-related word, which is probably why it also appears in the “internet” category, but “review bomb”, which almost inarguably applies to games as well, seems absent from the gaming word group. Hmm.
I’m just ribbing the Cambridge Dictionary, but its list of new words is genuinely fascinating, so make sure to check out the blog post for a few more, including amusing entries like “chef’s kiss”, “porch piracy”, and “microsleep”.
