Dictionary adds high-tech entries from ASP to WML

NEW YORK -- To the crossword puzzle aficionado, "asp" is the snake that did in Cleopatra. Now, in the 2001 edition of Random House Webster's College Dictionary, comes ASP, meaning "Application Service Provider."

At the other end of the list of more than 100 new entries in Webster's is WML, or "Wireless Markup Language."

Whatever happened to sparkling, creative, imaginative language?

Well, the answer may lie in such new gems as "bazillion," meaning a very large, indeterminate number; "big-box," a large store; and "hottie," for a sexually attractive person.

"Functional food" is good for your health. A "push-poll" is not a toy but a telephone survey that actually spreads negative political advertising. "Speech" is now "any public form of expression," including "visual depictions." Whether it's "free speech," of course, is for the courts to decide.

Wendalyn Nichols, editorial director of Random House's reference unit, said about half of the new words in the recently published 2001 edition of the dictionary have something to do with the techno-revolution, cyberspace and computer science.

How is a word chosen at Random, so to speak?

"We have a large collection of words that we are tracking," Nichols said. "Whenever we come across a new term or meaning, we put it into the database. All year long we look at this pool of words and evaluate them for inclusion. By searching our files, on-line databases and the Internet, we can determine how often words are used, their range of uses."

Some words are kept on hold until they're ready for prime time, Nichols said. A current example of a word in limbo is "himbo," meaning "male bimbo."

"We all really like the word," she said. "In a sense, we're rooting for its use to become more widespread so we can include it. But it just isn't making any headway."

This may be because it "smacks of a coinage," rather than of a natural origin, she said.

A college dictionary is an evolving publication, which means some words disappear as quickly as they appear. One example cited by Nichols is "macarena," the name of a 1997 dance craze that endured only a little longer than the fad itself.

By contrast, "tango" will be in the dictionary as long as there are two Argentines to rub together.