Every so often I like to share with you new words being added to dictionaries. Dictionary.com has just added 566 new words – haven’t they been busy? – and here is a small selection:

Blursday: a day not easily distinguished from other days, from the phenomenon of days running together in a blur. (Or it could be called ‘Whoseday’!)

Godwin’s Law: which says that when a debate goes on and on, and becomes more heated, sooner or later someone will mention Hitler and the Nazis. (The law states that whoever mentions the Nazis first loses the debate.) Named after US lawyer and author Mike Godwin who formulated the law in 1991.

Bloatware: unwanted software that turns up on your computer, either installed by the seller when you bought your new computer, and snuck onto your computer by a devious website you visited.

Sleep debt: the difference between the amount of sleep a person needs and the actual amount of time spent sleeping.

Unsee: to remove (something seen) from one’s memory or conscious awareness; to forget or ignore images burnt into your brain. Commonly used in the negative, as in ‘That’s something I can’t unsee’.

Jolabokaflod: an Icelandic tradition in which books are given as Christmas presents and opened on 24 December, after which the evening is spent reading the books: from a practice begun in 1944, when paper goods were among the most available items in postwar Iceland. The name of this charming tradition (pronounced yoh-luh-boh-kuh-flawd) comes from an Icelandic word  that literally translates as ‘Christmas book flood’. (The first part of the word, Jól, is equivalent to our word Yule.) And since all Speccie readers are bookish, we can applaud both the word and the custom.