RANDY ECONOMY: MY WORLD: Mash-up, F Bomb, Sexting, Aha Moment, Copernicium, Gastropub, man cave, systemic risk, earworm top new words for 2012

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (Photo credit: herzogbr)

We got a new batch of words to deal with according to the folks over at Merriam-Webster. Merriam Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary is hot for man cave.

I love the cutting-edge science term of copernicium, (a new chemical element). I want some copernicium.

I have also been having a problem with my gastropub, (for us "foodies").

The Merriam-Webster logo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Some of the new words this year provide colorful images," says Merriam-Webster Editor at Large Peter Sokolowski. "Terms like 'man cave,' 'underwater' (when used to describe mortgages), 'earworm,' and 'bucket list' paint vivid pictures in your mind. They show that English-speakers can be very creative as they describe the world around them." Merriam-Webste

r's editors monitor the changing language and add new terms to the dictionary once those words come into widespread use across a variety of publications.

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Newly added words used to describe the global financial crisis includesystemic risk ("the risk that the failure of one financial institution (as a bank) could cause other interconnected institutions to fail and harm the economy as a whole") and a new sense for underwater ("having, relating to, or being a mortgage loan for which more is owed than the property securing the loan is worth").

The vocabulary of technology now includes cloud computing ("the practice of storing regularly used computer data on multiple servers that can be accessed through the Internet") and the controversial act ofsexting ("the sending of sexually explicit messages or images by cell phone").

Pop culture brings us earworm ("a song or melody that keeps repeating in one's mind") — this summer's example being the inescapable Call Me Maybe by Carly Rae Jepsen — and mash-up ("something created by combining elements from two or more sources"), a technique used in movie trailers, viral videos, music, and books. "Whether it's a politician contradicting him or herself with excerpts from different speeches shown in quick succession or Danger Mouse's Grey Album, mixing Jay-Z with the Beatles, we've come to expect combined and rearranged elements that bring new perspectives and new creativity to our culture with mash-ups," says editor Sokolowski. "It's a recent phenomenon, made possible with digital editing, and it has a fun and descriptive name."

Other words added include bucket list (popularized by the movie title),energy drink, game changer, gassed (a slang word meaning drained of energy), Oprah Winfrey's signature phrase aha moment (a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension), and f-bomb (a lighthearted and printable euphemism).

Check out just a few of the new words added to this year's update ofMerriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, and their definitions, by clicking below: