2008 Woodie Awards
Editor's Column: Dictionaries got "noth" on English
Karrin Randle '10
Issue date: 2/27/08 Section: Opinion
If you think attending Yogalates to get aerobicized is a C. D. I., I'm right there with you. If you have no idea what that means, you're not alone.
To the chagrin of some language purists, the English language is expanding at a remarkable rate. While the increased speed of information sharing and communication in general has made it possible for pop culture terms such as "celebutante" to become used more commonly, the constant addition of new words to the lingual repertoire can be attributed to the fact that more people than ever speak English as their first or second language.
The English language was recently predicted to have over one million words by the end of this year. The director of Global Language Monitor, a Web site that tracks new words that appear in print and online, estimates that it is presently comprised of over 995,000 words and that current expansion rates will drive it into the seven figure range soon.
The word-watching group uses various complex algorithms to analyze current printed and online materials to estimate how many words languages have. They suggest that English is one of the largest languages in the world, with other languages having significantly fewer words. Spanish has an estimated 275,000 words and French as few as 100,000. The more limited use of these languages may help explain their smaller vocabularies.
Also, the constant documentation and formalization of new words in English is reaching levels that would have been considered heinously low brow in the past. Leading language experts, such as those in the rather vocal dictionary editing community, are now acknowledging previously disregarded words, such as "gaydar" and the video game world's "w00t," which was heralded as Merriam-Webster's 2007 Word of the Year.
Novel medical terms such as "mesotherapy" and words like "mzee" that reflect a growing cultural awareness are generally uncontested in their entrance into the language; however, words like "riffage" and "arm candy" sometimes meet with greater opposition.
To the chagrin of some language purists, the English language is expanding at a remarkable rate. While the increased speed of information sharing and communication in general has made it possible for pop culture terms such as "celebutante" to become used more commonly, the constant addition of new words to the lingual repertoire can be attributed to the fact that more people than ever speak English as their first or second language.
The English language was recently predicted to have over one million words by the end of this year. The director of Global Language Monitor, a Web site that tracks new words that appear in print and online, estimates that it is presently comprised of over 995,000 words and that current expansion rates will drive it into the seven figure range soon.
The word-watching group uses various complex algorithms to analyze current printed and online materials to estimate how many words languages have. They suggest that English is one of the largest languages in the world, with other languages having significantly fewer words. Spanish has an estimated 275,000 words and French as few as 100,000. The more limited use of these languages may help explain their smaller vocabularies.
Also, the constant documentation and formalization of new words in English is reaching levels that would have been considered heinously low brow in the past. Leading language experts, such as those in the rather vocal dictionary editing community, are now acknowledging previously disregarded words, such as "gaydar" and the video game world's "w00t," which was heralded as Merriam-Webster's 2007 Word of the Year.
Novel medical terms such as "mesotherapy" and words like "mzee" that reflect a growing cultural awareness are generally uncontested in their entrance into the language; however, words like "riffage" and "arm candy" sometimes meet with greater opposition.
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