Discussion Groups / English Usage / July 2009

'Millionth English word' declared

A US web monitoring firm has declared the millionth English word to be
Web 2.0, a term for the latest generation of web products and services.

Global Language Monitor (GLM) searches the internet for newly coined
terms, and once a word or phrase has been used 25,000 times, it
recognises it.

GLM said Web 2.0 beat out the terms Jai ho, N00b and slumdog to take top
spot.

However, traditional dictionary makers are casting doubt on the claim
and the methods behind it.

GLM, based in Texas, makes its money telling organisations how often
they are mentioned in new media, such as the internet, but it can also
track new words and expressions.

Once a word has been used 25,000 times on social networking and other
sites, GLM declares it be a new word.

The terms Jai ho and slumdog originate from the hit movie Slumdog
Millionaire, about India's slum dwellers.

But N00b comes from the gaming community, the company said, explaining
that it is used as a disparaging term to describe a neophyte in a
particular game.

It is also the "only mainstream English word that contains within itself
two numerals", GLM said in a statement posted on its website.

Landmark doubted

However lexicographers doubt GLM's claim, says BBC arts correspondent
Lawrence Pollard.

Dictionaries have tighter criteria about what constitutes a new word.
For example, it has to be used over a certain period of time.

Lexicographers say the exact size of the English vocabulary is
impossible to quantify, but if every technical term or obscure
specialist word is accepted then we are already beyond one million,
according to our correspondent.

And if the inclusion of specialist slang is restricted, then there are
possibly three quarters of a million words in English.

All of which is way beyond the 20-40,000 words a fluent speaker would
use, or the few thousand you could get by with in English.

But with 1.5 billion people speaking some version of English, it is
small wonder it is the fastest growing language in the world, our
correspondent adds.

What's your favourite new word? What word best sums up these times? Send
us your thoughts using the link below:

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/americas/8092549.stm