Welcome, readers, to the rejuvenated Bubbling Under. In this regular article, we hope to introduce you to some of the fantastic new words emerging in English, or the sub-variety Bloglish, for those bloggers reading.

Talking of blogs, it is amazing how they have introduced so many terms to the corpus already, despite the fact that there is such a large proportion of blogfade. This is the term that accounts for the fact that 50% of bloggers give up after three months. Yet for those that continue, they will occasionally feel the need to carry out a blogover – giving their blog a minor makeover.

In the real world as opposed to the blogosphere, one of the more unfortunate high-profile words to come our way is Baiji. A Chinese freshwater dolphin from the Yangtze River, this wretched creature has gained its infamy post–mortem – it is suspected to have become extinct recently. This is a strong example of a climate canary; something whose poor state/health is an indicator of an imminent eco–disaster.

From the sadly expiring to the curiously costumed comes Thneed, the must have fashion item for this winter! For those of you not familiar with Dr Seuss, a thneed is a garment that covers the head, the shoulders, and the arms. What more do you need! It is often that I have said to myself, "If only I could cover my arms, shoulders, and head, for the rest of me is toasty warm." Now existent as a very thick and heavy woollen garment of various shapes and styles, including the one described above, a thneed is what the fashionistas (circa. 1993) shall be seen in while doing the shopping run this winter.

Also making a sartorial splash among the fervent word watchers of Oxford University Press are a drop – a short dress that can also be worn with trousers as a top (dress + top = drop) – and a fascinator, which is a women's feathery decorative headgear. Or hair brooch, if you will.

Bubbling correspondents

A new introduction to Bubbling Under, starting this month, is to relay some of the interesting contributions from those who email their new word suggestions to me here at AskOxford towers. You never know, these words could be making an appearance in an Oxford Dictionary sometime in the near future.

This month, an example that trips off the tongue so easily, it'll be used around the globe in no time at all. Used to describe a concept that is both simple and complicated simultaneously, this month's word is epigangalusent.

Go forth, spread the word.

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