Here's what's disturbing about this: More and more, we're seeing dictionaries making decisions based not on lexicography but on marketing considerations. Merriam-Webster leads the pack with this brand of attention-seeking, as I've blogged:
http://conjugatevisits.blogspot.com/2008/07/dictionaries-gone-wild.html.
Here's what, as responsible information consumers, we should all know: One dictionary's sanctioning is just that -- one dictionary's. Yes, that's all it takes to justify using a word. But it takes a lot more than that for a choice to be respected.
This is "News at 11"/car chase brand of lexicography may, I worry, threaten more serious and ethical approaches. We can all help preserve serious lexicography and quality dictionaries by being aware that there are big differences in dictionaries and dictionary quality and that short-term headline whoring has no business in lexicography.
Personally, I like "meh." I use it. (I got it from Lisa Simpson.) But it seems to me that Collins included it just so they could make headlines.
