SO AFTER a simply scrumdiddlyumptious time at my yogalates class where I was trying to get rid of my moobs, I walked straight into a real cheeseball – probably a member of the Westminster bubble – who demanded to know the way to the nearest dunny, biffy or toot. It was all very Dahlesque. Fuhgeddaboudit, I said.

If none of the above makes sense, then you’re not keeping up with the latest updates to the Oxford English Dictionary.

More than 500 new words, phrases and senses entered the OED in the latest quarterly update, including revisions and newly drafted entries spawned by the writing of children’s author Roald Dahl whose birth centenary was marked in September.

Baby Boomers have grown up with the author of such classics as Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and Matilda who introduced a range of vocabulary best described as Dahlesque, according to Jonathan Dent, senior assistant editor of the OED.

In honour of the centenary and to mark publication of the Oxford Roald Dahl Dictionary, the OED has included the word Dahlesque for the first time. It also introduces or revises its entries for Dahl words such as frightsome, scrummy, scrumptious, splendiferous and splendiferousness and my own favourite: scrumdiddlyumptious when scrumptious simply isn’t enough. Not sure, though, why the OED spelling differs from the movie poster pictured here: must be the American English version.

New words unrelated to Dahl but which appeal to me include moobs (man boobs), cheeseball (someone or something lacking taste, style or originality), and yogalates (clearly a combination of pilates and yoga).

Ever helpful, the OED has also revised a batch of words for lavatory, from the medieval gong and wardrobe to the chemical Elsan, the euphemistic bathroom, and the Australian dunny, biffy, and toot.

And in case you’re wondering, the Westminster bubble refers to politicians, political staffers and media people who are so wrapped up in the incestuous industry of politics that they have lost touch with the reality of what the people want or feel.

As for fuhgeddaboudit, it is as it sounds – if you’re talking to someone from New Jersey or New York.

Oh well, YOLO (another new entry – you only live once!).

Len Horne