It’s no secret that Black people have their own lingo. Often times, other cultures may not consider some of the words or dialect as correct. But as racism and identity continue to be at the forefront of society, Dictionary.com is adding new words to reflect the reality.
CNN reports that Dictionary.com has added beaucoup words that are related to race and identity, in addition to African-American Vernacular words also. Among the new words added, ‘finna’ and ‘chile’ have somewhat passed the litmus test for mainstream acceptance and are now validated as actual words.
Dictionary.com describes finna as “a phonetic spelling representing the African American Vernacular English variant of fixing to, a phrase commonly used in Southern U.S. dialects to mark the immediate future while indicating preparation or planning already in progress.”
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Chile is described as “a phonetic spelling of child, representing dialectal speech of the Southern United States or African American Vernacular English.”
Among the changes, the noun ‘slave’ has been removed. The adjective ‘enslaved’ or phrase ‘institutional slavery,’ is what’s suggested, when referring to slavery.
“We have added such terms as BIPOC, Critical Race Theory, and overpolice, which have risen to the top of the national discourse on social justice,” John Kelly, managing editor at Dictionary.com said. “Another significant decision was to remove the noun slave when referring to people, instead using the adjective enslaved or referring to the institution of slavery. This is part of our ongoing efforts to ensure we represent people on Dictionary.com with due dignity and humanity.”
Other race and identity terms added are AAL: Afircan American Language, BIPOC: Black Indigenous People of Color, Telework: “To work at home or from another remote location,” and Superspreader: “A person who spreads a contagious disease more easily and widely than the average infected person,” just to name a few.
Roomies, do you think this is a good step for inclusion?
