Lost for Words?

The second edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary (Oxford University Press, $60), which was recently released and produced can be downloaded onto a PDA or smartphone. It's the largest dictionary ever to be accessible by hand-held technology. The new edition of NOAD also has been published the old-fashioned way, as a 2,088-page bound book, with the trademark blue cover of Oxford University Press. Of the new dictionary's more than a quarter million entries, about 2,000 were added since the first edition came out in 2001. Words that gained currency in American English over the last four years, and gained entry in NOAD, include "bridezilla" ("an overzealous bride-to-be who acts irrationally or causes offense") and "speed dating" ("a social activity in which equal complements of potential partners spend a few minutes in short interviews with all other participants in order to determine whether there is interest").