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Discussion Forum—A Way with Words, a fun radio show and podcast about language

A Way with Words, a radio show and podcast about language and linguistics.

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Duck Face
deaconB
744 Posts
(Offline)
1
2014/12/04 - 4:26am

It's been twenty years since "Four Weddings and a Funeral" came out.  Anna Chancellor played Henrietta, called "Duckface" behind her back. 

That didn't strike me as remarkable at the time, suggesting that it was used elsewhere before that. 

Oxford Dictionaries are listing duck face as one of the new words they're adding, defined as An exaggerated pouting expression in which the lips are thrust outwards, typically made by a person posing for a photograph.

Given that 4WaaF was the highest grossing movie in the UK at the time, it brings a couple of questions to mind.  First, are the Oxford lexicographers asleep, or are they that backlogged?  And do they define fish face?

EmmettRedd
859 Posts
(Offline)
2
2014/12/04 - 6:14am

Yes, it does appear that they are very slow and are either very methodical or backlogged. But, they also deal almost exclusively with textual evidence. It surprises me not that they have ignored the movie--just as they ignore speech in documenting words.

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