Prozac, tamagotchi and alcopops are among thousands of contemporary words and phrases contained in a the New Oxford Dictionary of English published today.

The dictionary is the first written from scratch by Oxford University Press in more than 70 years.

It reveals today's Britain to be a nation of people who want greater happiness for less effort.

Personal shoppers make our buying decisions, imagineers create our fantasies and sports bars save us wasting pub time on physical exercise. There is even a term for those that can't be bothered learning to type - hunt-and-peck.

The dictionary has been produced over six years by an army of wordsmiths based at the company's Clarendon Street offices in Oxford.

The mammoth task has involved redefining every word in the English language and its current meaning.

As well as including more than 2,000 new words, the dictionary also gives advice on surviving the minefield of political correctness.

Poetess or authoress are now considered sexist and patronising. Profoundly deaf should be used in place of deaf mute, disabled person instead of cripple and learning difficulties instead of mentally handicapped, the dictionary advises. The use of black and white or person of colour are, however, still acceptable.

The company's marketing director, David Swarbrick, said: "We included this because it was the kind of information that people wanted to know. We get many inquiries about it and it's one of the most complicated areas of usage. "What we try to do is analyse current usage as it is today."

The new dictionary has been produced using the latest computer technology.

Words and definitions have been compiled using written English culled from novels, reference books, magazines, newspapers and transcripts of the spoken word.

It contains 350,000 words but includes fewer meanings for individual words than previous dictionaries. TELL US YOUR FAVOURITE NEW WORD What do you think should have been included in the new edition - and why? E-mail us at: nqonews@nqo.com What it all means SOME of the new words and definitions contained in the dictionary:

alcopop - ready-mixed alcoholic soft drink

barn burner - very exciting event

Blairism - ideas and politics of Tony Blair

blended family - family incorporating children from various relationships

chop shop - place where stolen vehicles are dismantled

chump change - small insignificant amount of money

domestic - violent quarrel between family members

hippy-dippy - unconventional and foolishly idealistic

la-la land - unrealistic world epitomised by Hollywood/Los Angeles

lunch box - popular speak for male genitals

Millennium bug - coming to your computer soon?

mouse potato - computing equivalent of couch potato

phwoah - appreciation of the opposite sex by the inarticulate

road rage - by now a well-established motoring hazard

rusty dusty - black English slang for backside

saddo - inadequate person shock jock - deliberately offensive disc jockey

spin - give favourable emphasis to news story

spod - dull, over-studious person

stalk - harass or persecute with unwanted and obsessive attention

zero tolerance - strict application of the law in response to anti-social behaviour

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.