'Fanboy' enters the dictionary
via Computer and Video Games
It turns out that forum favourite quip 'fanboy' is almost 100 hundred years old. That's the excuse of Merriam-Webster anyway, which has only gone and stuck it in the dictionary.
Merriam-Webster's description of our favourite comments section insult is "a boy who is an enthusiastic devotee (as of comics or movies)". By the look of certain forum members (you know who you are) we reckon they'll soon enough go back and add videogames to that description.
If the inclusion of the word makes you die a bit inside, that should probably know that last year Merriam-Webster added "woot" to the dictionary. There just aren't enough people making up good words these days.
"As soon as we see the word used without explanation or translation or gloss, we consider it a naturalized citizen of the English language," said Peter Sokolowski, editor at Merriam-Webster.
"If somebody is using it to convey a specific idea and that idea is successfully conveyed in that word, it's ready to go in the dictionary."
If it's a slow word year in 2009 they'll probably add omgwtfbbq to the book.
