Writing New Words for the Dictionary
by Now anyone can add a new word into the dictionary.
Language is a living thing. It evolves to reflect changes in society, and you can’t expect it to remain static. Like road maps that change constantly reflecting new constructions as well as roads taken out of service, dictionaries delete archaic words and introduce newer ones.
An element of excitement and a sense of wordplay is involved in neologisms. Words create impressions and conjure up images by building psychological connections. They influence how we think. That’s why logoleptics constantly spew out, like a volcanic mountain, new words and phrases. The neologized words may become household terms in a few years, or die a quick death.
Source: Encyclo
New words reflect changing culture. A ubersexual is a macho male who has good taste in appearance, but unlike a metrosexual, is a straight guy. Nowadays people don’t shake hands; instead, it’s cool to ‘bump elbows’.Similarly, if ‘whatever’ was the favorite phrase of teenagers in the past, it’s now been replaced by ‘bovvered’. This was Oxford English dictionary’s ‘Word of the year’ in 2006, having been made famous by Catherine Tate Show’s character Lauren, who would often retort ‘Am I bovvered’.
Newer technology and newer lifestyles create need for newer words. Brave New Words for the Brave New World. Words are the most powerful drugs invented by mankind. They can raise passions; they can calm a turbulent mind. Words are evocative; they convey ideas as intense emotions and indelible images.
Have you heard of vishing? It’s a blend of voice and phishing, one of the many hundreds of words technology has ushered in to the dictionary. Phishing refers to conning an individual into revealing personal information. Vishing involves scammer-controlled automated phone calls from financial institutions using the voice-over-IP system. Because they often happen on social networking sites, such acts are called social engineering.
Communication via the Internet has brought in a plethora of slang with it. I think the most popular one is LOL (laughing out loud), but it’s so ubiquitously used without context that I wonder if everybody knows what it stands for. ORLY, a combination of O(h) and R(eal)ly, is a sarcastic response when you feel something is absurd.
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Post CommentDee Gold
On March 8, 2009 at 8:58 am
cool
monica55
On March 8, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Thanks for this informative piece. I never thought of the idea, but makes sense.
Monica
CutestPrincess
On March 9, 2009 at 3:36 pm
very interesting piece…
Bullwinkle Muse
On March 11, 2009 at 7:29 am
I enjoy studying words and, so, thoroughly enjoyed your choice of subject. NIcely written.
vim3
On March 13, 2009 at 12:01 am
I am a student of language and I find this article very interesting and informative. Thanks.
Ramalingam
On March 13, 2009 at 9:17 am
Interesting and useful.If there is a word ‘befriend’ why not there be a ‘defriend’?, if there is a ‘honeymoon’ for the newly married couples, why not there be a ‘babymoon’ just before the birth of a baby?If there is a ‘hot potato’to explain difficult situation and problem, why not there be a ‘mouse potato’to define a man addicted to a computer or its mouse.In Tamil a person who is mad after his wife or scrupulously obey his wife is known as ‘Pendattidasan’Then can we call him in English as ‘wife potato’?A thought provoking article.Thank you.
Rana Sinha
On March 23, 2009 at 9:09 am
Nice and useful article. I’ll send this to some friends.
Resounding Glass
On April 8, 2009 at 3:28 am
Very interesting article and well written too. It was also very informative and I learned many new words; there were only a couple that I knew.
Thanks for sharing,
-Resounding Glass
manoucher parvin
On April 19, 2009 at 7:44 am
I wish to introduce the following words which appear in my latest novel”Out of the Gray: A Concerto, for Neurons and Synapses”
These new words arise from the base-word “faith”.
Faithing, faither, faithers,faithly, faithophobiac, etc.
About the author
Professor Manoucher Parvin, is widely known as a polymath. He has published novels, poetry,short stories,and numerous articles in various sciences.(See google as well as other seach engines)