Some new words have just been added to the Oxford Dictionaries Online, a related branch of the Oxford English Dictionary, but not exactly the same thing. Basically the ODO concerns itself more with current meanings and usage. If you want a longer explanation of the difference, one is available here.

From the ODO blog:

The world of computers and social networking continues to be a major influence on the English language, with the introduction of badware, social graph, and network neutrality into our dictionary. And if you thought a breadcrumb trail was only useful to Hansel and Gretel – think again. The new additions also hint at the danger of sneaking a peek at the Twittersphere or other social networks whilst at work – not everyone is thoughtful enough to add the NSFW warning!

Some of the best internet themed new additions are:

Cyber Monday – the Monday following Thanksgiving, promoted by online retailers as a day for exceptional bargains

infographic – a visual image such as a chart or diagram used to represent information or data

network neutrality – the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites

newb (unfortunately not n00b, however) – short for newbie

NSFW – not safe (or suitable) for work (used in electronic communication to indicate that a particular web page or website contains explicit sexual material or other adult content)

permalink – a permanent static hyperlink to a particular web page or entry in a blog

Twittersphere – postings made on the social networking site Twitter, considered collectively

ZOMG – (used especially on electronic message boards as a sarcastic comment on an inexperienced or overenthusiastic poster) oh my God!

And my favorite new general addition:

nekkid – (of a person) naked

Earlier this year the OED went a little txtspky and added OMG, LOL, BFF and even <3 to their massive database. The AP stylebook has also been keeping current, adding new social media guidelines for words like geotagging, retweet and unfriend.

Mind you, the anticipation for the newest installment of the Duke Nukem franchise isn’t because it will be the most groundbreaking video game ever, or anything like that. No, the Duke Nukem anticipation level is owed solely to the following line of thinking: “Is this game EVER going to come out?” You see, in case you aren’t aware, the Duke Nukem sequel has been in development since 1997. In fact, financial issues made the game’s release even more doubtful — read the Wikipedia entry for the full history of the game.

Fast forward to September 2010, after some legal issues were handled, the game’s development began again in earnest, with a target date of May 2011 for its release. As expected, the date was pushed back, bringing the doubt back to the surface, but if the official Duke Nukem Forever site is to be believed, the game is scheduled for release on June 14, 2011. After such a long and crazy ride, Take-Two was clearly eager to capitalize on Duke’s never-ending popularity, and of course, they wanted to market the game to the new generation of gamers who may not be aware of the Duke Nukem story.

Like any game company worth their salt does, Take-Two released promotional content to get the hype meter moving in time for the official release date, but there’s one problem: The content was deemed too risque for YouTube’s audience. As you can see in this article’s lead image, the Duke Nukem Forever trailer had too much nudity in it, and even if it is animated nudity, that’s apparently too much for YouTube to take.

Well, at least for this particular upload. As is normally the case, other uploads of the same content are visible in the YouTube search results, and what the hell, we’ll just go ahead and post the videos here, as well. Keep in mind that there is some video game nudity, so if that’s the type of thing your work frowns upon, don’t push play on the following embeds.

First, the non-YouTube version, just in case the others get pulled, courtesy of IGN:

On with the non-removed launch trailers, first one is courtesy of GamerSpawn:

And then there are the viewer uploads, followed by the page link, for differentiation purposes:

NSFW, for Not Safe For Work, is one of those Internet memes that seems to have been around as long as the Web has supported image viewing. Generally, it refers to images that, if seen over one’s shoulder in the workplace by a particularly sensitive third party, could result in the viewer being fired.

Audio can be just as workplace-unfriendly as well. But sexual images hit a nerve with people, to the point where companies with Internet use policies make people agree not to view such content on their work computers.

NSFW has been around in general usage for years, but good luck pinning down the first time it was used. We can’t imagine Curtis sending out the lawyers against anyone who forwards a link to someone with NSFW tacked on to it as a warning, should the USPTO grant the trademark.

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Overall, though, Australia beats them out. Unless it’s spelled wrong. I wonder how much India and Canada have missed out on looking for pron?

In the Philippines, Greece, and Austria, they’ve given up that search and have gone looking for the real thing via escort services. Don’t count India out of that search either; I’m lookin’ at you Delhi!

Who’s looking for stuff not safe for work? Ye lads in Edinburgh, Dublin, and Manchester – again – are kings of the NSFW search.

Those who can’t find the real thing and/or tire of looking for visual stimuli might turn to the good old-fashioned blowup doll like the folks in Seattle, Los Angeles and…Manchester again?

Is there a woman shortage in Manchester?

The Reuters article pegged Canada, United States, and Australia as the most likely to be looking for marijuana, but the technical name for it may just be research for scholarly purposes. The folks in San Diego looking for bongs on the other hand might mean business, and so do Orlando and Los Angeles.

This could go on all day, but it’s always fun. If you want a genuine time-waster (or maybe you can justify it to your boss as keyword research), check out Google Trends and let us know what you discover in the comments section.