Urban Dictionary

Infobox Website
name = Urban Dictionary



caption =
url = [http://urbandictionary.com/ www.urbandictionary.com]
commercial = Yes
type = Slang Dictionary
language = English
registration = optional
owner = Aaron Peckham
author = Aaron Peckham
launch date = 1999
current status = active
revenue =
slogan = Define Your World
alexa = ~2000

Urban Dictionary is a Web-based dictionary of slang words and phrases that documents the language of urban cultures and subcultures. Users are encouraged to submit new words and definitions covering every aspect of their daily lives. Submissions are regulated by volunteer editors and rated by other users. Urban Dictionary's slogan is "Define Your World".

History

The dictionary was founded by Aaron Peckham while he was an undergraduate at Cal Poly. The site went online in 1999. [cite book |author=Aaron Peckham |title=Urban Dictionary: Fularious Street Slang Defined |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |year=2005 |isbn=0-7407-514-33]

Urban Dictionary displays on its front page a running total of definitions submitted. As of August 2008, the total stands at over 3,221,469 definitions since 1999.

Content

Anonymous users can contribute to Urban Dictionary by submitting new definitions and voting on existing definitions. Each term can have more than one definition and each definition can be voted "up" or "down" independently. According to the site's Terms of Service, anyone submitting words or definitions agrees that Urban Dictionary can do whatever it wants with them. Because of this, users are not permitted to submit copyrighted material. [http://www.urbandictionary.com/tos.php Urban Dictionary: Terms of Service] ]

Unlike a traditional dictionary, the content presented on Urban Dictionary is often coarse, profane or offensive, and submissions are not checked for accuracy.

Quality control

Any user can participate in Urban Dictionary's quality control system by signing up as a volunteer editor. Editors are encouraged to publish entries on any word from daily life, including words not widely considered slang, on the grounds that language is rapidly evolving and words often acquire new meanings in common use. Terms considered to be racist, homonegative or sexist slurs are acceptable as long as their definitions only document the use of such slurs and are not themselves abusive. Definitions are recommended for rejection if they include personal references to non-celebrities, jokes understood only by a small social group, nonsense, advertisements, or descriptions of sexual violence.

Publication

In October 2005 a selection of definitions from Urban Dictionary was published in book form. A second book was made available for pre-order in October 2007.

*"Urban Dictionary: Fularious Street Slang Defined" (by Aaron Peckham, 320 pages, Andrews McMeel, 2005, ISBN 0740751433) [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20080207044510/http://dwb.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/14117015p-14946256c.html - In the hot seat: 'Ginormous' Web site makes phat book - look it up - sacbee.com] ]
*"Mo' Urban Dictionary: Ridonkulous Street Slang Defined" (by Aaron Peckham, 240 pages, Andrews McMeel, 2007, ISBN 0740768751)

References

External links

* [http://www.urbandictionary.com Official site]
* [http://doubletongued.org/index.php/grantbarrett/comments/language_evolution_in_the_digital_age Critique of open source dictionaries such as Urban Dictionary and Wiktionary by a lexicographer]
* [http://www.urbanup.com/1128968 An Urban Dictionary definition of the term "Urban Dictionary"]