Syria is the latest Middle Eastern nation to be overtaken by popular demands for reform. On Wednesday, at least 20,000 protesters gathered at the funerals of 9 Syrians who were killed by state police during anti-regime rallies. Tension has remained high since then, and earlier today police fired tear gas into the 4,000-person strong crowd gathered in Deraa, one of Syria’s big cities. Now, people are waiting on a big announcement in the coming days from the current president, Bashar al-Assad. Protesters hope he will meet some of their demands, including the release of political prisoners, trials for those who have killed protesters in the past weeks, more freedoms, and an end to the country’s dirty politics.

South Dakota enacted a law Tuesday requiring all women to wait three days after meeting with a doctor before an abortion, the longest waiting period in the country. The bill, signed into law by Governor Dennis Gaugard, is expected to be challenged in court. In similar news, some legislators in Ohio are pushing the “heartbeat bill,” which would ban abortion once a heartbeat can be detected.

The U.S. continues its involvement in violence-ridden Libya. Tonight, all eyes will be on the president as he addresses the nation on the state of affairs in the warring country and defends the military action some congressmen have called unconstitutional. Early in the week, the U.S. and allies enforced a no-fly zone over the country in an attempt to prevent further advance of pro-government fighters. On Wednesday, the job was transferred to NATO, and the U.S. is beginning to focus more on its second goal- protecting Libyan citizens from the violence. According to the U.N., about 350,000 Libyans have fled in the past weeks, and thousands more are clogging the borders.

OMG, LOL and muffin top have officially been added to the Oxford English Dictionary. This week, the over 600,000-word tome was officially updated with the new entries. OMG is defined as “expressing astonishment, excitement, embarrassment,” LOL is “used to draw attention to a joke or humorous statement, or to express amusement,” and muffin top is “a roll of flesh which hangs visibly over a person’s (esp. a woman’s) tight-fitting waistband.” I passed the news onto my mother, but she is still convinced lol stands for “lots of love.” lol.

Photo of the Week:

(Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo)

Rallies haven’t just been happening in the Middle East- here, a firefighter responds to a call from a work protest in Brussels, Belgium.

Renewing my phone plan last month lead my mom to take advantage of a BOGO deal on touch screen phones and she’s been sending text abbrevs and emoticons ever since. It’s exhausting. But apparently she and the Oxford English Dictionary have one thing in common: they’re finally catching on to the abbreviations and slang that us cool kids have been typing out for years.

Yes, it’s official, peeps. 2011 is leaving its mark (or blemish) on history with the addition of a few choice words to the good ole’ dictionary. Among the words to made the cut: “OMG,” “muffin top” and “LOL.” What a legacy we’re leaving behind for our children.

I can only imagine what those definitions are going to look like: Read More »

And you thought Justin Bieber fans were scary….

Old men are sexier than ever.

And this is why we love dating in the Fall.

BFF is officially a word. Just look it up!

This fall, it’s all about the shearling.

How to keep from moving too fast in a relationship.

The reign of social media lives on as the New Oxford dictionary (“The world’s most trusted dictionary) named ‘unfriend’ the word of the year. Yes, as in: “Some whack-job keeps invited me to play Farmville so I unfriended his lame ass.” Another point for Facebook, and another hit to society’s overall intelligence. To ‘unfriend’ someone may be the ultimate diss on the interwebs, but in reality, Oxford is just verbing a noun.

To make matters worse, other finalists for the word of the year included: sexting, intexticated, tramp stamp and deleb. For those not as in the loop as the New Oxford word of the year panel, deleb is defined as a dead celebrity. I, for one, have never heard the word ‘deleb’ used in everyday conversation, but what do I know? I’m still over here thinking the correct term was to ‘defriend.’ Embarrassing.

While these words are culturally clever and all, I can guarantee word-enthusiasts all over the world are groaning right now. I’m just wondering how long it takes before ‘WTF,’ ‘LOL’ and ‘UR2GR82B4GOT10’ get their moment of glory. Also wondering how long it will take my spell check to realize ‘unfriend’ is legit now. Seriously, what is this proto-language and where do we come up with it?