Hearts Fan Launches Petition to Get the Word ‘Hibsed’ in the Oxford Dictionary

A Hearts supporter has started a petition to get the word ‘Hibsed’ into the Oxford Dictionary.

It comes after the Hibees suffered yet more disappointment in a big game, losing yesterday’s League Cup final 2-1 to Ross County in agonising style.

Hibs have developed a reputation for choking at big moments in recent years, starting with their 5-1 Scottish Cup Final defeat at the hands of Hearts in 2012 and finishing with yesterday’s devastating loss to the Staggies at Hampden.

In between those games, they lost another Cup final 3-0 to Celtic in 2013, lost their Premiership relegation play-off to Hamilton in 2014 despite being 2-0 ahead in the first leg, failed to beat a poor Rangers team in the play-offs last season and after appearing to be in a title race this season are now 17 points off Mark Warburton’s men in the Championship.

It’s safe to say Hibs have really Hibsed things over recent years.

And now this supporter – named Rudolf Skacel on change.org – wants the Oxford Dictionary to recognise the word:

There are 1,028 signatures at the time of writing and that means there are around 499,000 signatures needed before the Government takes notice.

The fan makes a compelling case for the word to be recognised in the English lexicon, writing that no word for this definition currently exists:

“People often search for a word to use in certain circumstances, only to discover that no adequate word exists in the dictionary for their problem. Instead they have to explain the situation with a collection of words, this is called a sentence. “Here we have the word ‘hibsed’. The definition of the word in question is: To be ahead in your pursuit of something, only to mess it up before you cross the finish line.”

We’d be surprised if you’re reading this and haven’t heard the word ‘Hibsed’ used in a sentence. And, according to Rudolf Skacel, that’s why the Oxford Dictionary should recognise it:

“The Oxford Dictionary doesn’t accept words that have been made up by random people because; “we generally only add words that have been used widely over a number of years”. “Well good news Oxford Dictionary, because people in Scotland have been using this word for almost two decades now, becoming so common-place that it has been used in the headline of various news articles.”

Can he use it in a sentence? Sure he can:

“I know what you’re thinking though, “but where does the word hibsed come from”? Well, it all stems from a football team called Hibernian, and their habit of being so close to glory yet mucking it up just before the finish line, or ‘hibsing it’. Can I use it in a sentence? Of course I can. – “Arsenal only needed to win one game out of their last 8 to wrap up the premier league, but they hibsed it and finished second.” “Sign this petition if you agree that having one simple word for mucking it up right before the end makes a lot of sense. Thank you for your time.”

For the sake of Scottish football, let’s hope the Oxford Dictionary realises this is a word they must include from now on.