Green issues colour dictionary

Green buzzwords such as carbon-neutral, carbon trading and Chelsea tractor appear in new edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary.

The world of celebrity provides both WAGs (wives and girlfriends), complemented by pap - a paparazzo - those who take their pictures.

Modern terms from the worlds of politics, such as nanny state, are also included for the first time.

Carbon terms

Growing fears about climate change pepper the new additions with words such as "green audit" - defined as "an assessment of a business as regards its observance of practices which seek to minimise harm to the environment".

NEW ENTRIES

• Carbon footprint
• Chelsea tractor
• WAGs
• Nanny state

Object of grammatical desire

Then there are the carbon terms - carbon footprint, which is defined as "the amount of carbon dioxide emitted due to the activities, especially the consumption of fossil fuels, of a particular person, group, etc".

While carbon trading, is termed "emissions trading - a system whereby countries and organisations are given permits to produce a particular amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, which they may trade with others".

And carbon-neutral also makes the revised book. It is defined as "making no net release of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, especially through offsetting emissions by planting trees".

Politics and terror

The much-criticised Chelsea tractor also makes an appearance in the first edition of the dictionary for five years: "A large, four-wheel-drive vehicle used in urban areas".

Politics and terror make their mark with nanny state explained as "the government viewed as overprotective or as interfering unduly with personal choice" while Great Satan is "the United States regarded as an imperialistic and malevolent power, especially in the context of its policies in the Middle East".

Biosecurity - "protection of the human population against harmful biological agents" - is an important term in the battle against terrorists and also in seeking to control naturally-occurring diseases, such as foot and mouth and bird flu.

The ever-increasing importance of computers gives us addy (an email address) and webinar - "a seminar conducted via the internet".

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Oxford English Dictionary
BBC history of the dictionary
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