'Man Cave' Now Part of Merriam-Webster's New Edition

High-schoolers in Los Altos and Los Altos Hills started back to school last week—and many now have brand-new dictionaries to aid them in their studies.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary issued the latest edition of its tome just in time for the new school year in Santa Clara County and across the nation.

This week, the highly respected dictionary publisher announced the decidedly unconventional words and phrases it was adding: "F-bomb," "sexting" and "man cave."

Other new words include:

1. Aha moment
2. Bucket list
3. Cloud computing
4. Copernicium
5. Earworm
6. Energy drink
7. Game changer
8. Gassed
9. Gastropub
10. Mash-up
11. Systemic risk
12. Underwater

"Some of the new words this year provide colorful images," said Merriam-Webster Editor at Large Peter Sokolowski in a news release. "Terms like 'man cave,' 'underwater' (when used to describe mortgages), 'earworm,' and 'bucket list' paint vivid pictures in your mind. They show that English-speakers can be very creative as they describe the world around them."

Sokolowski said words like "mash-up" have become a part of everyday speech with new technology. 

"Whether it's a politician contradicting him or herself with excerpts from different speeches shown in quick succession or Danger Mouse's Grey Album, mixing Jay-Z with the Beatles, we've come to expect combined and rearranged elements that bring new perspectives and new creativity to our culture with mash-ups," said Sokolowski in a news release. "It's a recent phenomenon, made possible with digital editing, and it has a fun and descriptive name."

Do you think these new additions were needed in the new edition? Tell us why in the comments!

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