It's a new issue that has proved a modern minefield – as the way we identify ourselves evolves and changes at a rapid rate. But now The Oxford English Dictionary has introduced gender-neutral words to help us. Editors said the latest additions were an ‘attempt to grapple’ with the sensitive topic.
These include ‘hir’ and zir’ as alternative pronouns to him, his or her, ‘peoplekind’ rather than mankind, and ‘Latin@’ as a gender-neutral term for someone of either sex from Latin America.
Meanwhile, the verb ‘misgender’ could apply to anyone who unwittingly or intentionally uses a pronoun that is not preferred by the person.
Also among the 650 updates were less politically-correct dog cross-breed terms, including puggle (a cross between a pug and a beagle) and a dorgi (a dachshund/corgi mix).
Weegie – Glaswegian – is also now included in the OED. It was first recorded (spelt Weedjie) in Irvine Welsh’s 1993 novel Trainspotting in which, the dictionary’s editors say, the Edinburgh characters are ‘not very complimentary about their Glaswegian compatriots’.
More obscure Scots words to make the grade in the OED include baff (slipper), bauchle (old shoe), bealach (narrow mountain pass), bowf (stink), coupon (face), eeksie-peeksie (evenly balanced), hee-haw (nothing) and rooked (penniless).
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