An Urban Dictionary is a website that includes descriptions and literal definitions of words. Its definitions are not always literal and are not limited to slang or cultural terms. While it was initially a slang and cultural dictionary, it has become the go-to source for the definition of any word. Each entry may contain multiple definitions, usage examples, and tags. To access the dictionary, visitors must provide a valid email address.
Online dictionaries record linguistic change
The online urban dictionary (UD) is a crowd-sourced dictionary. Founded in December 1999, the UD lets people contribute by writing an entry about a word. The founder of the UD argues that many people write wrong definitions of words and that a UD can help fix this. The UD entry on the word “selfie” shows the definition and an example of how to use the word.
The dictionaries also record linguistic changes by recording grammatical and lexical change. The changes in a language are often reflective of political views, inventions, and laws. These new words reveal ideas about the culture that a social group represents. Germany, for example, was famous for installing traffic lights in pavements to deter smombies from walking out in front of buses. The urban dictionary documents this linguistic change.
They are useful for mapping chronology
UD allows users to record new words and their meanings with little or no effort, and the data is often relevant to historical mapping of the period under study. Some entries are simply made-up terms or words that are relevant only to a small group of people. Nevertheless, many dictionaries insist on attested headwords, and UD entries may not be familiar to many people. For this reason, crowdworkers were asked to quantify how familiar the words were to them.
They are used in patent litigation
While traditional dictionaries take years to add new words, the Urban Dictionary accepts them in a day. The dictionary’s findings have been used in dozens of cases in the last couple of years, but they rarely determine the outcome of the case. The trend seems likely to continue, and Lastowka specializes in property and Internet law. The Urban Dictionary is often used by plaintiffs in patent litigation. However, it is important to remember that the Urban Dictionary is not a reliable source of information.
In trademark litigation, the Urban Dictionary is a cheaper alternative to hiring a linguist expert. These dictionary definitions are often used by federal prosecutors, and a recent law review article has proposed a method for courts to cite crowdsourced websites. It also provides a quick and easy way for parties to define slang terms without expert witnesses. However, since the definitions are created by users, there are no quality control safeguards and are not necessarily a reliable source of evidence.
They are inaccurate
While it may seem like the urban dictionary is the best way to learn the language of the youth, it’s actually incredibly inaccurate. Originally, the Urban Dictionary was created as a parody to help those in the know understand the slang of the city. The website was originally created by Aaron Peckham, a freshman computer science major from California Polytechnic State University. He compiled a list of words and slang with his friends and invited users from all over to contribute. His website, which is now the 77th most popular website in the country, has more than 110 million visitors per month, but the encyclopedia is still inaccurate.
The website has been growing steadily since 1999. The site currently has over two million entries and 1 620 438 headwords (after lower casing). That means there are 1.643 entries per headword. The distribution of entries varies widely from one headword to another, though. Some entries have thousands of definitions. For example, the word loml has 11 entries. The site’s popularity has led to the use of terms like “broham,” a term of endearment between men that reaffirms heterosexuality.
They are relevant to only a small subset of users
While Peckham says he has never sought venture funding, he is not shy about boasting to the New York Times that his website has garnered major advertisers and partnerships. Although the site boasts tens of millions of users a month, the truth is that its content is only relevant to a small subset of those who use it. That may be the case, but that doesn’t mean that the site doesn’t have any monetary value.
The Urban Dictionary is an attempt to give those who read it a clue to the language of urban people. Its success is largely a result of user-generated content, rather than experts. Users can submit entries and vote on them, with five votes being sufficient for a definition to make the cut. Users can also see which entries received the most up-votes. While this may not sound very scientific, it does give users a sense of empowerment and pride.
They are not a dictionary
The idea for the Urban Dictionary began when computer science student Aaron Peckham decided to create a website to compare different types of urban slang. He also built a mock Ask Jeeves search engine, which he closed after receiving a letter of infringement. In an effort to break the mold of a traditional dictionary, Peckham aimed to make his website more accessible and humorous. In the end, he created the Urban Dictionary as a parody, because he found that real dictionaries took the subject matter too seriously.
Final Words:
While some dictionaries require attested headwords, the UD is not a dictionary. Most entries in the UD are made-up terms or words of limited use. The site also lists words that no one else has heard of, such as loml (Love of My Life) and broham, a term of endearment for men that reaffirms heterosexuality. In addition, the dictionary has little standardization when it comes to the number of entries for any given headword.
