Monday, September 5, 2011

That's so random! (hodad edition)

I have to mention this because, as I said: it was "so random!" The other day while I was compiling a video of the girls surfing I included a Beach Boys song called "California Calling." I don't understand all the words in the song but I heard the word "hodad." I've probably heard it before but didn't really know what it meant, so I pulled out the Webster's dictionary and... it wasn't there! How could they not have it? Jamie didn't know what it was either. Maybe I would have to ask Mark V. he'd know for sure.

But, as luck would have it, I was just about to finish a book about Noah Webster who wrote the first American dictionary (I'll review it soon). The next day as I reached the final page, where it's talking about the changes Webster's dictionary has seen since it was first published in 1828, it says:

"... true to the spirit of Noah Webster, the company continues to track every new word in the language so that it can release an updated version of its flagship dictionary every year. Recent changes include the additions of 'chick flick,' 'blogosphere' and 'LOL' as well as the elimination of 'hodad' (a nonsurfer, who pretends to be a surfer), a term that the Gidget movies of the early 1960s popularized." (page 334)

That's so random!

No comments:

Post a Comment