According to the Global Language Monitor, a new word enters the English language every 98 minutes, meaning that the millionth word was added to English yesterday at precisely 5:22 (ET). (Incidentally, the Global Language Monitor is an “internet media analytics company” that only cares about global languages named English.)
And the millionth word is… Web 2.0, defined as “the next generation of web services.” Wait, I thought Web 2.0 is this generation. They’ve been using Web 2.0 for years. In any case… how bloody wonderful! Welcome to the madness, Web 2.0!
According to Paul J.J. Payack, the sole force behind GLM, a word must make 25,000 appearances in a global print and electronic media, the Internet, the blogosphere, and Twitter (Twitter?!) in order to be considered a legitimate English word. This makes it all sounds very scholarly until you look at some of the recent entries that he has allowed in the English language :
- Octomom. If the “word” is actually a nickname that can only be used to describe one person, then… does it really deserve an official place in our lexicon?
- Sexting. Barf.
- Chengguan. Since when are Chinese words that have originated in China and that are exclusively used in China considered English?
- Mobama. Really, Paul J.J. Payack? Really?
- Shovel Ready. The what-what?
While most language experts agree that it’s impossible to count the number of words in the English language, let alone deduce the exact time that a word has entered the vernacular, Paul J.J. Payack, well, agrees. “It’s always an estimation,” he said. “It’s like the height of Mount Everest is an estimation. The height of Mount Everest has changed five times in my lifetime because as we get better tools, the estimates get better.”
I think I just realized what “shovel ready” means : pseudo-scientific findings that some academic nutjob foists upon an uncaring public while admitting it’s total bullshit.
