Definitions like ‘The greatest playwright to have ever lived in spite of being in dire need of a spell check' or ‘A guy that makes absolutely no sense, but is cool anyway' used to describe William Shakespeare might seem a bit odd, but then that's how people, places, things are defined in the quirky website urbandictionary.com. The website is a web based dictionary of urban words, phrases and slangs. The hilarious definitions are mostly provided by the users and also users can vote for the definitions, very much like Wikipedia. Not just English words but the dictionary also provides quirky definitions of popular and commonly used phrases and slangs in other languages.
Though Urban Dictionary should be last place to search for information on William Shakespeare, its funny definitions will definitely crack you up. Famous writers, poets, world leaders, artists none of them are spared. In fact, the definitions are indicative of the user's take on these historical figures, who are mostly the youth. “Often my colleagues have caught laughing out loud after reading something on Urban Dictionary. It is a perfect remedy for a dull boring day at work,” says MNC employee Rebecca Thomas who subscribes for the Urban word day from the website. The language is casual and mostly written they way youngsters talk, like M.K Gandhi is described ‘Indian dude who just so happened to be one of the most evolved souls the world has ever known.'
Bizarre definitions like Charles Dickens ‘A popular author and street fighter, Charles Dickens grew up in the 1800s writing books and punching townsfolk in the face. Died in 1870 after choking on a book,' or Mark Zuckerberg ‘A nickname conferred upon anyone who is idolized and admired for accomplishing the most unproductive things one can ever imagine' makes the website quite an entertaining pass time.
However, B.Com student Vinod Kumar says that one needs to have a sense of humour to appreciate the definitions. “Sometimes the definitions are not charitable to your favourite personalities but it should be taken in a light hearted way. It is not a website for people who get easily offended,” he says.
You might not agree with some of the definitions and you will end up chuckling reading them. For example Mark Twain's defined as ‘A man who came up with approximately 50 per cent of all quotes used today.'
