Merriam-Webster, those purveyors of dictionaries, announced that "approximately 100" (can't they count?) new words would be in the 2007 update of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 11th Edition.
For reasons unbeknownst to me, I can't seem to find the entire list. Here are 20 of the new words.
Some of my favorite new words:
Ginormous: (extremely large: humongous). I've always liked this word. As in "look at my ginormous PC monitor" (as quoted by Mary McKnight in "A Year's Worth of Real Estate Blog Ideas #73").
Viewshed: (as in watershed. The natural environment that is visible from one or more viewing points). This one is going in the next land listing!
Smackdown: (the act of knocking down or bringing down an opponent). As in, "Did you read the Dual Agency Smackdown at Bloodhond Blog?"
Hardscape: (structures (as fountains, benches, or gazebos) that are incorporated into a landscape). Not really a favorite, but real estatey. I thought it already was a word.
Sadly, I don't think Unzillowable made the cut. But we used it in a listing, and will continue to do so. Maybe like this:
This ginormous parcel of land, uncluttered with hardscape, has an amazing unzillowable viewshed.
Surprisingly, "blogosphere" does not appear to be in the dictionary. Good! Stop using it! That word drives me batty for reasons I can't really explain. I prefer "blogiverse" (also not in the dictionary, but feel free to use it).
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jf.sellsius 07.12.07 at 9:00 am
But you can find unzillowable in wikipedia (under zillow criticisms):
Realtors with specific market knowledge are more likely to know specific factors affecting the sale of a home such as the overall condition of the home, domestic issues such as divorce, job transfer pressures, etc. These factors have been called unzillowables, a term coined in the real estate blogosphere.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zillow
Louis Cammarosano 07.12.07 at 8:15 pm
What about “web 2.0″- is that defined?
Jay,I’m with you, I hate “blogsphere” as much as I used to detest the now out of fashion “cyberspace”
mover 07.13.07 at 10:10 am
I also agree with that words can called unzillowable
NM Real Estate 07.13.07 at 10:41 am
It’s been a long time coming for Ginormous - glad to see it made the cut!
Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy 07.13.07 at 11:05 am
Joe - cool Wikipedia entry! I added a reference to it. We’ll see if it sticks, but likely it would have been removed by now if someone had a problem with it…
Louis - I find the term “Web 2.0″ a little annoying as well. Is is pronounced “web 2 point oh” or “web 2 dot oh”?? The web is constntly evolving, I pray we don’t get into some weird version numbering system for the web. What is next, Web 2.0.1.4?
Mover - sorry, I don’t understand…
NMRE - Agreed! Not that it really matters, but I lived in Rio Rancho for a year when I worked for Intel…
David Porter 07.13.07 at 1:55 pm
I am a first time visitor and certainly enjoyed my visit.
Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy 07.13.07 at 6:45 pm
Well thanks David! Don’t be a stranger!
michael 07.15.07 at 8:27 am
My wife is a breast feeding consultant and her word of the day:
Lactivist
Minneapolis Real Estate 07.18.07 at 8:53 pm
Sorry, guys. “Unzillowable” will forever be the province of esoteric real estate jargon. Maybe the Zillow site isn’t that great, but the rest of the world just think the effort to coin the term as just more whining and another case of “sour grapes” from REALTORS who feel easily threatened. No one else but REALTORS care that much about the word.
Jay - The Phoenix Real Estate Guy 07.19.07 at 7:03 am
MRE -
I feel no threat from Zillow what-so-ever. See “Why do So Many Agents Fear Zillow?”
I just think there needs to be some way to capture factors in home valuations that a piece of software will never have the capability of doing. Call those factors whatever you’d like. Unzillowable works for me.