Urban Dictionary
Encyclopedia
Urban Dictionary is a Web
-based dictionary
of slang
words and phrases, which contained over 6 million definitions . Submissions are regulated by volunteer editors and rated by site visitors. Time
' s Anita Hamilton
included it on her 50 best websites of 2008 list.
computer science
major at California Polytechnic State University
. One of the first definitions on the site was "the man
", referring to "the faces of the establishment put in place to 'bring us down.'”
The website was referenced in a 2011 District Court complaint by ATF
agents to document the meaning of the vulgarism 'murk' as used in a criminal threat.
Visitors to Urban Dictionary may submit definitions without registering, but they must provide a valid e-mail address to facilitate the submission process. Entries become the property of Urban Dictionary. Before they are included in the dictionary, all new definitions must be approved by editors.
Editors are given this set of guidelines to use when approving or rejecting definitions:
Every submission must be approved by editors before it is added to the dictionary; editors must register with the site using a valid e-mail address and may vote to accept or reject newly submitted definitions.
After receiving a sufficient differential of "accept" over "reject" votes, definitions are published to the dictionary. There may be hundreds of entries for a term or word, so various and often conflicting "histories" exist.
Individual entries cannot be edited by the registered users en masse.
Definitions already in the dictionary can be voted thumbs "up" or "down" by any site visitor.
Once a definition is included in the dictionary, editors may review it and remove it if it is against the guidelines. However, those definitions which have proven popular by voting cannot be removed, and an editor may only recommend removal of five definitions per 24-hour period.
On the Urban Dictionary Forum, registered members can discuss enhancements or problems they experience with the site, and vote for changes to be made. Forums are places of lively discussion; recent subjects include: "Allow users to upload sounds and images", "Get rid of stupid definitions from being first on lists", and "Allow editors to delete more than 5 bad definitions per day".
is 688, with a rating of 322 in the United States and 17,571 sites linking in.
Urban Dictionary has been frequently featured on Tosh.0
with special "words of the week".
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
-based dictionary
Dictionary
A dictionary is a collection of words in one or more specific languages, often listed alphabetically, with usage information, definitions, etymologies, phonetics, pronunciations, and other information; or a book of words in one language with their equivalents in another, also known as a lexicon...
of slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
words and phrases, which contained over 6 million definitions . Submissions are regulated by volunteer editors and rated by site visitors. Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
Anita Hamilton
Anita Hamilton is a journalist whose career began at her college newspaper, The Dartmouth, where she was a reporter and editor. She went on to edit articles about computers and software at PC World in San Francisco, then became a founding editor of the pioneering tech news site CNET...
included it on her 50 best websites of 2008 list.
History
The site was founded in 1999 by Aaron Peckham while he was a freshmanFreshman
A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
computer science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
major at California Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University
California Polytechnic State University, or Cal Poly, is a public university located in San Luis Obispo, California, United States. The university is one of two polytechnic campuses in the 23-member California State University system....
. One of the first definitions on the site was "the man
The Man
"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise....
", referring to "the faces of the establishment put in place to 'bring us down.'”
The website was referenced in a 2011 District Court complaint by ATF
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a federal law enforcement organization within the United States Department of Justice...
agents to document the meaning of the vulgarism 'murk' as used in a criminal threat.
Content
The Urban Dictionary defenitions are made up by people.Visitors to Urban Dictionary may submit definitions without registering, but they must provide a valid e-mail address to facilitate the submission process. Entries become the property of Urban Dictionary. Before they are included in the dictionary, all new definitions must be approved by editors.
Editors are given this set of guidelines to use when approving or rejecting definitions:
- Publish celebrity names but reject friends' names. Definitions of first names are acceptable. Names of bands and schools should be published only if they are popular.
- Publish racial and sexual slurs but reject racist and sexist entries. Entries can document discrimination and slurs but not endorse it.
- Publish opinions. Opinions are useful to readers unfamiliar with a topic and should not be rejected because of disagreement or offense, or inaccuracy.
- Publish place names, nicknames and area codes of geographic entities.
- Publish nonslang words. Swearing, mis-spelling, or presence of words in an ordinary dictionary are not reasons for rejection and should be ignored.
- Publish jokes and sarcasm, but reject inside jokes that only the author's friends would understand.
- Reject sexual violence and made-up violent sexual acts.
- Reject nonsense. Be consistent on duplicates, reject nonsensical, circular, unspecific entries or those submitted in all capital letters. Non-English words and examples are acceptable, but entries with non-English definitions should be rejected.
- Reject ads for web sites, and definitions written as advertising.
- Publish if the definition appears to be plausible.
Quality control
Persons submitting definitions must provide a valid e-mail address which is used as a simple process to establish good faith.Every submission must be approved by editors before it is added to the dictionary; editors must register with the site using a valid e-mail address and may vote to accept or reject newly submitted definitions.
After receiving a sufficient differential of "accept" over "reject" votes, definitions are published to the dictionary. There may be hundreds of entries for a term or word, so various and often conflicting "histories" exist.
Individual entries cannot be edited by the registered users en masse.
Definitions already in the dictionary can be voted thumbs "up" or "down" by any site visitor.
Once a definition is included in the dictionary, editors may review it and remove it if it is against the guidelines. However, those definitions which have proven popular by voting cannot be removed, and an editor may only recommend removal of five definitions per 24-hour period.
On the Urban Dictionary Forum, registered members can discuss enhancements or problems they experience with the site, and vote for changes to be made. Forums are places of lively discussion; recent subjects include: "Allow users to upload sounds and images", "Get rid of stupid definitions from being first on lists", and "Allow editors to delete more than 5 bad definitions per day".
Traffic and users
, the site contains over 5.6 million definitions. , an average of 2,000 are submitted every day; the site receives approximately 15 million unique visitors per month, with 80% of users being younger than 25. , Urban Dictionary's Alexa ratingAlexa Internet
Alexa Internet, Inc. is a California-based subsidiary company of Amazon.com that is known for its toolbar and Web site. Once installed, the toolbar collects data on browsing behavior which is transmitted to the Web site where it is stored and analyzed and is the basis for the company's Web traffic...
is 688, with a rating of 322 in the United States and 17,571 sites linking in.
Urban Dictionary has been frequently featured on Tosh.0
Tosh.0
Tosh.0 is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides sarcastic commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture.-History:...
with special "words of the week".