Wordsmiths get own 'funplex' in revised Merriam-Webster

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We are getting wordy, indeed.

Merriam-Webster managed to cram 10,000 new words into its latest collegiate dictionary, available today in bookstores and the first revised edition in a decade.

Words are cheap, too. Priced at $30, the volume contains 225,000 definitions. That boils down to a little over one one-thousandth of a cent per word, give or take an iota. Or maybe a smidgen, mite, speck, jot or tittle, for that matter.

And what words.

There's "barista," as in one who serves coffee to a Starbucks-struck public. There's "comb-over" for the hapless gent who believes inventive styling can conceal his baldness.

"Frankenfood" denotes genetically modified cuisine. Then there are "funplex," "headbanger" "longnecks" and "dead presidents."

The latter four words actually complement one another.

Funplex is an assemblage of movie houses, game rooms and restaurants; headbanger denotes an aficionado of thumping heavy metal music, while longnecks, well, that's just beer in a long-necked bottle.

"Dead presidents" means the cash that revelers use to pay for it all, even if they have a "McJob," or low-paying work.