Quidditch, a fantasy sport played in J K Rowling’s magical Harry Potter franchise, along with words like ‘cli-fi’ and ‘showmance’ are among over 40 new additions in the latest update of the Oxford Dictionary.
The non-magical iteration of Quidditch has been around for a little over 10 years, originating at Middlebury College in Vermont, and is played with broomsticks held between the legs. Also escaping the realms of fiction to join the real world is the word cromulent — meaning “acceptable or adequate” — which was first used over 20 years ago in The Simpsons as a descriptor of the word ‘embiggen’ used in an engraving on a statue of the town founder. Embiggen is another addition from the latest update, but is not entirely new to the English language. Research shows it was used as far back as the late 19th century. The word did not really spread into common usage until its appearance in The Simpsons.
Similarly straddling the line between reality and fiction is the new word ‘showmance’. This refers to a romantic relationship between co-stars, but particularly one contrived for the sake of publicity.
