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Behind Bestie

What We Learn About Gender From New Dictionary Additions

A dictionary update is just a list of words. It's also a testament to who English-speakers are and how we see ourselves

This week, the Oxford English Dictionary made the most exciting announcement a dictionary can: new words had been weighed, measured and added to the historical catalog.

On the surface, it might seem like just a list of new entries and sub-entries. But words that have been around long enough to get into the OED pack more context than meets the eye. And some in this addition have an obvious theme: women. You know, those people who craft language and use language in powerful ways, even when they don’t know

Here are three new word entries in the OED and a few things they can teach us about how culture and language collide.

bestie (n.): a person’s best friend; a very close friend.

It would be unsurprising to hear a teenage girl use this cutesy word to describe her very best friend in the whole wide world. What might be surprising is what a profound effect that young women have on the English language. “There is increasingly more recognition for the role that young women play in creating and disseminating slang,” says Katherine Martin, Oxford’s head of U.S. dictionaries. “Women are huge innovators.” Even if those innovations are ending statements like they’re, like, questions.

“It’s generally pretty well known that if you identify a sound change in progress, then young people will be leading old people,” Mark Liberman, a linguist at the University of Pennsylvania, told the New York Timesfor an article about the vocal fry, or creaky voice. “And women tend to be maybe half a generation ahead of males on average.” That is perhaps why a study published in December showed that more California men are just now starting to use “uptalk,” that mock-able Valley Girl style.

heroine-worship (v.): to admire (a woman one views as a heroine) intensely, excessively, or uncritically.

The first thing this entry probably reminds you of is hero worship, a term that has been in the OED since 1857. “One thing you see a lot when we’re revising is the addition of the female version of something we already have the male version of,” says Martin. It also goes both ways, like when a term such as love god is added after love goddess.

The heroine/hero pair, Martin says, is one of many in which women can fall into either category and men can only fall into one: “A hero can be a woman, whereas a heroine can’t be a man, and that’s a really common thing.” Like actor/actress, there is a male form that is viewed as fairly gender neutral and a feminized form. The interesting part comes when people decide which one to use—and why they make that decision, like a female who rejects actress because she feels actormakes her sound like a more serious thespian.

“It’s a late 21^st century phenomenon to think that anything that is gender-restricted to women is somehow lesser and so, then, to oppose that. That’s where this preference for gender-neutral terminology comes from,” Martin says. “But if we dislike the feminized terms, does that mean that in some way we are buying into the concept that the feminine is less-than?” With that in mind, a woman might prefer to be worshipped as a heroine than a hero, viewing it a word through which she can proudly own being a woman.

dead white male (n.): a dead Caucasian male writer, philosopher, etc., whose pre-eminence, esp. in academic study, is challenged as disproportionate to his cultural significance, and attributed to a historical bias towards his gender and ethnic group.

The argument inherent in this dismissive term is that there has been too much focus on the things dead white men have done or said or written, especially in academia. If one felt that Herman Melville’s genius was overblown, for instance, one might refer to Moby Dickas “a big fat book by a dead white male about a big fat white sea mammal.”

“It fits into the 1970s to the present awareness of gender issues and a critique of how we use language and what we study,” says Martin; its a word that “identifies the fact that, historically, the work of white European males has been privileged over the work of other people.” The really notable detail about this entry, she says, is that the editors decided to include it. Niche ideas discussed by a few people have no place in the dictionary: “When things go in the OED, it tends to be because they’ve been around for so long that it’s now a concept we’ve actually adopted widely.”

That is to say, the very fact of its inclusion in the OED means a lot of people believe—or have at least discussed the possibility—that dead white men get too much attention. Such is the power of a dictionary update, on its face just a mostly boring list of 900 words.

Want to “Unfriend” a Facebook friend without really Un-friending

Want to “Unfriend” a Facebook friend without really Un-friending

Want to “Unfriend” a Facebook friend without really Un-friending them because some time what happen we owlishly added your school friends and colleges  as a Facebook friend but now you are regretting it and you are thinking twice about post and photos but if you “Un-Friending” him/her might be he/she will felt bad.

Want to “Unfriend” a Facebook friend without really Un-friending them, you really don’t need to delete them .

A – Adding them to “Acquaintances” list

Step 1. Hover your mouse over their name on their timeline or in your news feed.

Step 2. When you see the pop-up window with their profile photo and a “Friends” button, hover your mouse over friends button to reveal a new pop-up menu. See the “Acquaintances” option? Go ahead and click it.

 Want a little more control over which updates you’ll see from a specific friend? Instead of “Acquaintances,” click “Settings,” then start unchecking categories (from “Life Events” to “Comments and Likes”).

B- Block them from your news feed

Step 1.  Again, hover your mouse over the friend’s name on their timeline or in your news feed, then wait for the window with their profile photo to appear.

Step 2. When it does, hover your mouse over the Friends button, click Settings, then uncheck “Show in News Feed.”

C – Adding them to your Restricted list

Step 1. For One more time, hover your mouse over their name in your news feed or on their timeline, wait for the pop-up window to appear, then click the Friends button.

Step 2. Select “Add to another list” from the menu, scroll all the way down, then click Restricted.

D – Unsubscribing from their updates

Step 1. If you see his  name in your feeds,click on the arrow at the top right of their activity.

Step 2. Click on Unsubscribe from xxx.Now you are free of the nuisance that this person is causing you.

E – Turn off the chat feature

They will still be able to send you messages, but they will go to your inbox instead of popping up in a chat window. You’ll also receive them as messages on any mobile Facebook apps you choose to install on your phone.

Go to the bottom right of the chat sidebar and click the gear icon, then “Advanced Settings“.

Now type their name in the field after “Turn on chat for all friends except…”

How To Turn On Facebook Chat For Selected Friends

Facebook is a great social media for stay connect with your friends. All most people having hundred plus friends in their account but they use to chat with some friends occasionally or when you are in office want to online only for selected friends.

Facebook has some very good customization option for user experience. So here we are going to tell you about how you can turn on Facebook chat for selected friends.

How To Turn On Facebook Chat For Selected Friends

Step 1: First login with your Facebook account, Once you login with your Facebook account, click on setting button right bottom next to search.

Setting button

Step 2: Now go to advanced settings, here select option “Turn on chat for only some friends“  then type your friend’s name whom you want to keep chat online.

Turn on chat for only some friends

Step 3: In text box you can select the name one by one or you can select thelist of your friends. once you selected the names or list of your friends click on save. Now you will be online only friends you have selected.

Now you will appear online only for the friends you have select for chat and for rest you will display offline. so use this and share with your friends.

How to untag yourself from multiple photos on Facebook?

How to untag yourself from multiple photos on Facebook? got tagged in some Facebook photos un-necessary or any holiday so people usually upload the photo and tag the people for wishing. and now you are getting annoying notification after every second. so here we have a quick way for  untag yourself from multiple photos on Facebook.

Step 1: Login with your Facebook account and go to your profile.

Step 2:  Now on Facebook banner right bottom click on Activity Log.

Activity Log

Step 3: Now check all the photos you want to untag yourself.

Step 4: Once you select the photos you want to untag on the top right, click on the button “Report/Remove Tag”.

Report/Remove Tag

Step 5: In the dialog box choose either just want to untag yourself or untag and report the photo.

untag and report

Step 6: And final click on untag photos button.

So this is quit simple process How you can  untag yourself from multiple photos on Facebook!!!

Pista Kulfi dessert for summer

Pista Kulfi

If you like Ice cream then you should not miss “Pista Kulfi dessert for summer” around you easy to make!!

			Calorie count	:
			Serving Size	:	8
			Preparation Time	:	1 Hrs

Ingredients 

No	Ingredient Name	Quantity	Measuring Type
1	Milk	3	Kg
2	Khoya	1/2	Kg
3	Elaichi powder	2	Teaspoon
4	Pistachios	2	Tablespoon
5	Rose water	2	Teaspoon
6	Sugar	to taste

Cooking Instructions

1. Boil Milk and cook until its comes to Half.
2. Then put Sugar, Elaichi powder, Pistachio and mix it well then take off from Stove.
3. Then mix Khoya and cook on low heat until it gone thick.
4. Take off and put Rose water in it then pore in to Kulfi Molds.
5. Put the Kulfi Molds in a fridge.

Serving Instructions: Serve it cool.

            Enjoy Pista Kulfi dessert for summer!!

Top 6 Washington Travel Destinations

There are lots of interesting destinations that you can find when you try to visit the nation’s capital.  It would also prove to be the perfect holiday destination when you go out for a vacation with your family. So, let’s watch out the top Washington travel destinations that you should not try to miss.

Old Trolley Ride

You would be able to explore 100 points of interests when you take the Old Trolley Ride which is simply gorgeous. By purchasing a single ticket entitles you to use it the whole day which proves to be the best way to see the city.

Smithsonian Institute

You should definitely try to make a visit to Smithsonian Institute where you can find interesting architectural buildings with more than 19 galleries and artifacts. You can also take help of tour guide that would be very useful for you and your family.

National Zoological Park

By visiting Zoological Park, it helps you to witness over 400 species of animals that includes Panda Bears. This would prove to be the best excursion for your family that would really prove to be the most exciting one.

Lincoln Memorial

Here you would be able to have a good look at the actual Gettysburg Address along with a painted mural. It has been beautifully modeled after a Greek temple making it look the best.

Rock Creek Park

Are you a lover of nature? Well, then you should not try to miss Rock Creek Park where National Park Service operates it. It would prove to be very beautiful and exciting one for you and your family.

National Archives

You would be able to look up your family history and also view the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives.

So, do not try to miss these top 6 Washington travel destinations that would make your trip a memorable one!!