Now that the bloom is off bling and metro is retro, word lovers searching for the next big thing in pop parlance may find it in a new dictionary charting everything from slang to slurs snubbed previously by leading lexicographers.

From AMWs (actress-model-whatever) to zhing-zhong (cheaply made Asian goods), The Official Dictionary of Unoffi cial English makes words like “blog” seem as cutting edge as a rerun of Murder She Wrote.

“Every word that you learn tweaks your brain,” says Grant Barrett, editor of the dictionary. “Every word that you learn is another vitamin. There’s something pleasant in knowing you’ve acquired the tiniest bit of new knowledge.” In the age of the Internet, dubbing any fragment of language “new” puts wordsmiths on shaky ground.

The newness of Unoffi cial English is in its focus on words that haven’t been documented in leading North American dictionaries, or have acquired new meaning since appearing in those dictionaries.

“You’ll fi nd words you’ve never seen before — even though they’ve been around for decades,” Barrett says in the introduction to the dictionary.

“You’ll find old words with new defi - nitions. You’ll find foreign words tiptoeing into foreign Englishes, sports jargon butting into politics, street slang bouncing out of California, and Spanish moving comfortably into mainstream American English.” It’s a collection of language that deserves more attention.

A thrillionaire, for instance, is a wealthy Richard Branson-type who pursues expensive and dangerous pastimes.

A pudding ring describes facial hair made up of a moustache and goatee.

Sandbox isn’t the playground staple, it’s military slang for a country in the Middle East.

D-girls are junior fi lm industry executives, frankenbites are TV clips edited together to manufacture drama on a reality show and ego ramps are catwalks or stage spurs that extend into or over a concert audience.

Fratmosphere is an environment resembling or affi liated with a college fraternity.

“It’s not a goofy book of wacky words so much as it’s a companion to your everyday dictionary,” says Barrett, who is project editor for the Historical Dictionary of American Slang and editor of the Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang.

The most controversial section of Unoffi cial English is titled Colourful Names for Whitey, which comprises racist epithets or nicknames for Caucasian westerners that are unique to various regions around the globe.

A companion section cites derogatory terms used within an ethnic group or race to insult its own members.

“Information, not provocation, was the intent,” says Barrett, noting the lists were included because of their substance.

It quickly becomes evident in scanning the dictionary that widely used Canadian words such as stagette are rarely found or unknown in American conversation and texts.

“Even though there might not be a physical border, the psychological barriers do a fair bit to keep words inside the margin,” says Barrett, a New Yorker.

“We’ll get (the word’s meaning) but we’ll also recognize that it’s not native to us so we’ll keep our hands off, which is usually something Americans aren’t known for.”