Notes on OED's September 2009 release of new words

anyhoo conj.

In origin a representation in print of a regional or colloquial pronunciation of anyhow, this new entry retains the core senses of that word. In more recent use, however, especially in North America, it has gained a specificity which earns it separate coverage from its "parent" in the OED, in use to indicate a change of subject in a conversation, sometimes as a very deliberate or ostentatious marker that the current subject has become too convoluted, dull, or indecent for talk of it to continue.

clonable adj.

This quarterly release features the alphabetical sequence which surrounds the word clone, beginning with this new entry. The revised entry for clone n. itself charts in full the impact of various scientific advances on these words, and clonable provides a microcosm of these through its quotation paragraph: from cells or plants propagated by cloning, to the possibility of cloning domestic pets, to casual usages (implying that the technology underlying the metaphor is familiar to everyone) referring to TV programmes which give rise to spin-off series.

soundclash n.

After a slow start, spending the period between 1925 and 1989 referring, as one might expect, to a clash between contrasting or dissonant sounds, this term explodes on to the popular music scene in two different directions, referring both to a piece of popular music that contains strongly contrasting musical elements or influences, and to an event at which two (or more) DJs or sound systems play alternately at the same event to see who ‘wins’ the competition between them.

wire speed n.

Another entry, from the sequence in this release dealing with wire and related words, which illustrates technological change in the 20th and 21st centuries: a rather prosaic first sense deals with the speed at which a wire moves on a spool, through a machine, etc., but a new sense appears in 1991, relating to the speed at which data can be transmitted down wires or cables, and in particular the desire for devices which do not interfere with such transmission, so that data travels as fast as the cable will allow.