‘Did you say “fabric”?’ asked my husband when I was telling him about words that have just been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. No, phablet, but I can see why he misheard. It’s a dull portmanteau word meaning ‘half phone, half tablet,’ just as the first citation, from an Australian periodical, explained in 2010. How long will phablets last?
A far more interesting item in the OED’s new intake is waybread. It was invented by J.R.R. Tolkien for a tale in 1951, but is better known from The Lord of the Rings (1954).
‘The food was mostly in the form of very thin cakes, made of a meal that was baked a light brown on the outside, and inside was the colour of cream,’ it explains. The Elves ‘call it lembas or waybread, and it is more strengthening than any food made by Men’.
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in