June 14, 2001
Homer Simpson's Phrase in Dictionary
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 10:42 a.m. ET

OXFORD, England (AP) -- Homer Simpson with an English accent?

Don't laugh -- the beer-guzzling cartoon dad has hit the literary big-
time. His favorite phrase has made it into the erudite Oxford English
Dictionary.

The OED's online edition defines Homer's trademark ``doh!'' -- usually
accompanied by a Simpsonesque slap to the forehead -- as ``expressing
frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not
as planned or that one has just said or done something foolish. Also
implying that another person has said or done something foolish.''

It's one of 1,250 new or revised entries published Thursday on the OED
Web site. They'll all be added to the next edition of the print
dictionary, but its publication is years away.

Other new additions and updated definitions include ``bad hair day,''
which caught the dictionary writers' attention after turning up in the
novel ``Bridget Jones's Diary,'' and ``full monty,'' whose definition
was expanded to include total nudity, thanks to the film about
unemployed British steelworkers who turn to stripping.

Also added: ``retail therapy,'' ``serial monogamy'' and ``lifestyle
drugs.''

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On the Net:

http://www.oed.com/

Posted:WOP
- bill 6-14-2001 7:08 pm [add a comment]