Have No Fomo, UCLA Spells It Out

Have no fomo, and get off the heezie: your schwa new presh slanganary is here.

The sixth edition of UCLA Slang is being published this month, and let the eargasms begin.

The book is published every four years by linguistics professor Pamela Munro and her students at UCLA, which dedicated readers will recognize as the university in Westwood referred to when students say they go to "Under Construction Like Always.''

Munro said the book may be lighthearted, but is produced in a regimented process that starts with students collecting slang from their friends. Entire classes analyze submissions entry by entry to ensure they are spelled and defined correctly.

"Students learn a lot about grammar, language and linguistics,'' Munro said. "You can study anything you want about ordinary language through the medium of slang."

Besides documenting the latest contortions put to the mother tongue by UCLA students, Munro has also authored dictionaries in Zapotec from Mexico, Chickasaw from Oklahoma, and Wolof from Gambia.

The 160-page English-slanglish dictionary includes terms, definitions, parts of speech, sample sentences and notes on the entymology and origination of new slang, Munro said.

And for those needing help with the first sentence in this report, the dictionary supplies such words and definitions as:

Fomo: fear of missing out

Get off the heezie: youthful enthusiasm

Schwa: wow

Presh:' cute or precious

Other new slang words this year include "obama," meaning cool or rad, as in, "You so obama."

"Bromance" means a close platonic friendship. And "bellig" means drunk and belligerent.

"Eargasm" means just what it sounds like.

If all this is new, just say "I.D.K.'' to indicate "I Didn't Know.''

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