Number of Words in English Stratford-upon-Avon Time Dup

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February 1, 2023February 1, 2023

Stratford-upon-Avon Time

August 15, 2021August 23, 2021

Rise and Fall of England as an English Language Word Generator

England Once Accounted for a Majority of English-language Neologisms.

New Research Shows that the Number of New Words Generated has Fallen to Fewer Than 10% of the Total

Excerpt from the Report

AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITED STATES, August 16, 2021 — The Sun might have set on the British Empire but the language continues to expand its global dominance though with fewer contributions from the ‘Sceptre’d Isle’. This is according to a new study to be released later this fall, by the Global Language Monitor.

English has been hailed as the first truly global language inserting itself into nearly every nook and cranny of modern life, thanks to its conquest of science, technology, education, film, fashion, and communications.

According to GLM, a new word is created every 98 minutes, about 14.7 words a day or 5400 words a year. As of today, GLM’s estimated number of words number is 1,066,095.9 words. Google’s Ngram word count of millions of English-language books also lists a similar number of words. According to a study with Harvard University, the count was 1,022,000 English-language words in 2010, within 1.6% of GLM’s estimate at the time. The study estimated about 8,000 neologisms/year joining the language, while GLM’s analysis put the number at 5400. Nevertheless, it is a large and growing language.

English über alles?

One problem with the UK maintaining proper ownership (and dominance) of the language it begot) is that it is becoming a smaller and smaller portion of the English-speaking world.

As the number of English Words has grown, so has the number of nations that have a large number of English-language speakers, each generating unique neologisms to suit their particular needs.

Today, tens of thousands of English-language neologisms bubble up from all corners of the planet each year, but only about 5,000 to 8,000 have enough staying power to make into any of the standard dictionaries, e.g., the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Collins, Macmillan, Webster’s Unabridged, American Heritage Dictionary, Macquarie Dictionary, among others.

The Global Language Monitor has three distinct criteria that each new word must meet to be included in the English-language corpus, which GLM refers to as ‘depth’ and ‘breadth’.

The word must appear in a minimum of 25,000 citations in a variety of media (Internet, books, newspapers, research, television, radio)
The word must appear in geographies dispersed across the globe
The word must appear in differing cultural segments, industries, and/or demographic groups

According to the latest available statistics, the UK now stands in sixth place on the list of English-speaking countries, as shown below. Nevertheless, the list below does raise some interesting questions, for example, the UK is No.6? The U.S., of course, reigns in the top spot, and perhaps, India is in a well-deserved second place, but Pakistan, Nigeria, and the Philippines at Nos. 3-5?

List of Countries by Number of English Speakers

[Note: due to variations in statistical methods, some totals can appear slightly out of sequence.]

English-Speaking Nations By Number of English Speakers

If you are looking at this list from the perspective of a champion of the former British Empire, you can think about this in two ways:

Well done good and faithful servant, or
Good riddance, fare they well, the Sun has indeed set upon thee ….

Authorities Banned Use of TV Words

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Trend TopperMediaBuzz College Guide 2015

As shown below, Modern English, itself, is an amalgam of dozen or more Proto-Indo-European-Languages, Continue reading “Rise and Fall of England as an English Language Word Generator”

January 21, 2020January 21, 2020

New Words and Neologisms

Adorkable Top Television Word of the Year (Teleword)

… from New Girl, Big Bang & Modern Family

followed by Shell Shock, Bi-Polar, Dothraki and La Toti

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Ninth Annual Analysis by the Global Language Monitor

Austin, Texas, USA. September 25-26, 2012. The Global Language Monitor (GLM) today announced that ‘adorkable’ from New Girl and Big Bang, and Modern Family the Top Teleword of the Year followed by ‘Bi-polar,’ ‘Dothraki’, and ‘La Toti’. Rounding out the top ten were ‘scripted,’ ‘Kate,’ ‘fourth screen,’ ‘nerdy,’ and ‘Jubilee’.The awards are announced in conjunction with the Primetime Emmy awards at the beginning of the Fall television season in the US. This is the ninth annual analysis by Austin-based GLM.

“This is the first time a single phrase from three outstanding comedies shared the top spot,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM. “This year’s list also reflects a world trying to find a new equilibrium for itself from lessons culled from its past, its present, with a touch of fantasy as it moves into the future.”

Read it now in TIME!

The Top Telewords of the 2011-2012 season with commentary follow:

1. Adorkable (Big Bang Theory, New Girl and Modern Family) – The word has been around for nearly ten years now and has applied mostly to men (as in Jim Parsons), but somehow Zooey Deschanel, and Modern Family’s Rico Rodriguez II (Manny) and Ariel Winter (Alex) have all added a vibrant dimension to the term. [A portmanteau word from dork and adorable.]

2. Shell Shock (Downton Abbey) – The trauma of shell shock both in the trenches of World War 1 and the vanishing way of life of the English Upper Class lies at the center of this early 20^th c. drama. Societies, too, can experience shell shock. [Also called battle fatigue, now known as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)].

3. Bi-polar (Homeland) – Looking at an insane world through bi-polar eyes, Claire Danes presents an intense, intriguing portrayal of the post-Modern battlefield found in Homeland, where the enemies are neither obvious nor detectable on both side of the battle. [Historically known as manic-depressive disorder, where people experience disruptive mood swings.

4. Dothraki (Game of Thrones) – The twenty-three consonants and four vowels of the Dothraki language are not much easier to understand that the series multiple plotlines. [Dothraki is a made-up or ‘constructed’ language. There are hundreds of these ‘constructed’ languages from ‘Vulcan’ to J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘Elvish’ to the 120-words of ‘Toki Pona’.

5. La Toti (Modern Family) – Family nickname of Sofía Margarita Vergara Vergara, the highest earning actress in American television for the past year ($19.1 million). [‘La Toti’ loosely translated as ‘the be all and end all’.]

6. Scripted – Scripted shows now mean ‘not reality’. Like the term guitar now needs the retronym ‘acoustic guitar’ to differentiate itself from its electronic brethren, reality TV has now become the dominate genre.

7. Kate – Who are the 100,000 people surrounding the Duchess of Cambridge? Those would be the Olympians and fans of the London 2012 Summer Olympics. Oh.

8. Fourth Screen – Whatever happen to the three-screen world of tomorrow. That would be yesterday. Past prognosticators evidently forgot to consult Steve Jobs about the ‘tablets’ in their future. [The three screens were those of the television, computer and smart phone. Apple’s iPad proved to be a game-changer introducing a new class of devices called ‘tablets’.

9. Jubilee – From Queen Elizabeth II’s 60^th anniversary on the throne of England. The traditional Jubilee period is fifty years, but no matter ….

10. Dramedy (Louie) — Is it comedy? Is it drama? Dunno, but it’s definitely C.K.[Shorthand for his Hungarian surname — Székely.] .

This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Narrative Tracking technology. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 250,000 print and electronic news media, as well as new social media sources (such as Twitter) as they emerge.

The words, phrases and concepts are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

The Top Telewords of previous years:

2011 – SpillCam from the Gulf Oil Spill, followed by Guido (Jersey Shore) and Reality (TV)

2010 – ‘Royal Wedding’ of Kate Middleton and Prince William, followed by Charlie Sheen’s ‘winner,’ and Arab Spring.

2009 – ObamaVision — All Obama, all the time, everywhere, followed by Financial Meltdown and the death of Michael Jackson.

2008 – Beijing (from the Olympics), ObamaSpeak, followed by ‘facts are stubborn things’, ‘it is what it is,’ and Phelpsian.

2007 – “Surge” from the Iraq War political and military strategy, “That’s Hot®” Paris Hilton’s popular expression that is now a registered trademark, and “D’oh!” from The Simpsons and The Simpsons Movie.

2006 – ‘Truthiness’ and ‘Wikiality’ from the Colbert Show followed by ‘Katrina’, ‘Katie,’ and ‘Dr. McDreamy’.

2005 – ‘Refugee’ from the coverage of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, followed by ‘Desperation’ from Desperate Housewives and ‘Camp Cupcake’ from the on-going Martha Stewart follies.

2004 – “You’re Fired!” edged “Mess O’ Potamia” followed by “Girlie Men,” “God,” and “Wardrobe Malfunction”.

Top Trending Words of 2012 Mid-year Update

Obesogenic, Derecho (and gender-neutral ‘hen’) take on Apocalypse, Kate and Debt

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Number of Words in the English Language: 1,016,672 (July 6 estimate)

AUSTIN, Texas July 10 – Trending 2012 Update: Obesogenic, Derecho (and the gender neutral ‘hen’) are taking on the Mayan Apocalypse, Kate, and Debt as candidates for the Top Word of the Year according to a mid-year update by the Global Language Monitor. Each year, GLM produces the top trending words for the following year just before the new year begins. In 2011, it announced 12 possible candidates; mid-way through the year the three new terms have been added to the list.

Obesogenic — An environment that tends to encourage obesity. Lately it has been used to describe television advertisement that promote sugary and high-calorie snacks to kids.
Derecho — A ‘land hurricane,’ a sudden storm with extremely strong one-directional winds, such as occurred in the Eastern states earlier this month.
Hen — The Swedish attempt to create a gender-neutral pronoun to replace him or her or combinations therefore: hen.

“The new words are taken from an intensifying debate on obesity as a major societal health crisis, a ‘land Hurricane’ that some link to global warming. and a move sometimes viewed as political correctness to end gender distinction among pronouns,” said Paul JJ Payack, the president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor. ”At 2012′s mid-point, there has been considerable movement among the top trending words, and that trend will no doubt continue as it has during the entire life of our 1400-year old language.”

The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.83 billion speakers (January 2012 estimate).

The Trending Top Words of 2012 in revised order:

Rank/ Previous Rank/ Word / Comments

1. China (3) — Middle Kingdom – There is little indication that China’s continuing economic surge will fade from the global media spotlight –or abate.

2. Europe (12) — United, breaking apart, saving the Euro, abandoning the Euro, with the UK again as an ‘interested onlooker’. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

3. The Election (6) — No Obama-mania this time around, more of an Obama-ennui for the November 6 elections.

4. Kate (2) — There are seven billion humans on the planet but sometimes it seems that it’s all about Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton in terms of fashion, celebrity, and the royal line. (And most definitely not Katie, the future ex-Mrs. Tom Cruise.)

5. Deficit (7) — Looks like deficit-spending will plague Western democracies for at least the next decade.

6. Global Warming (10)— The earth has been warming since New York was covered under a mountain of ice; what makes 2012 any different?

7. Derecho (New) — A ‘land hurricane,’ a sudden storm with extremely strong one-directional winds, such as occurred in the Eastern states earlier this month.

8. Olympiad (2) — The Greeks measured time by the four-year interval between the Games. Moderns measure it by medal counts, rights fees and billions of eyeballs.

9. CERN (9) — Neutrons traveling faster than light? The ‘God Particle’? The world ending in a mini-black hole? All these somehow revolve around CERN (The European Center for Nuclear Research). One CERN scientist calculated that the chance of a mini-Black Hole swallowing the Earth is less than 1 in 50,000,000. Somewhat comforting until you realize this is about ten times more likely than winning a national lottery.)

10. Rogue nukes (8)— Iran and North Korea will be the focus of attention here.

11. Near-Earth Asteroid (11) — Yet another year, another asteroid, another near-miss. (However, one does strike the Earth every one hundred million years or so.)

12. Arab Spring (13) — the successor term for ‘Arab Spring’, whatever that might be.

13. Bak’tun (4) — A cycle of 144,000 days in the Maya ‘Long Count’ Calendar. This bak’tun ends on December 21, 2012, also being called the Mayan Apocalypse. (Actually Maya ‘long-count’ calendars stretch hundreds of millions of years into the future, December 21st merely marks the beginning of a new cycle.)

14. Solar max (5)— The peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle; in 1854 solar storms melted telegraph wires; what’s in store for our all-pervasive electronic infrastructure?

15. Hen (New) — The Swedish attempt to create a gender-neutral pronoun to replace him or her or combinations thereof: hen.

16. Obesogenic (New) — An environment that tends to encourage obesity. Lately it has been used to describe television advertisement that promote sugary and high-calorie snacks to kids.

The Top Words for 2011: ‘Occupy’ was the Top Word, ‘Arab Spring’ the Top Phrase and ‘Steve Jobs’ the Top Name of 2011 in its twelfth annual global survey of the English language.

NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 250,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources as they emerge.

Earth Day Legacy: 25 Words that Changed the World

“The environmental movement has had a profound, lasting, and ever-increasing effect on global culture and, hence, the English language,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of GLM. “The words we have analyzed are but the most profound examples of a movement that has become ever-more influential in the life of the planet.

Many in the younger generations,” Payack continued. “grew up practicing recycling, engaged in green activities, and attempting to live a green life style. It is best for us all to remember that these advances were won over a generation or more, sometimes at great cost. These words present a lasting legacy of what came before and what still needs to be accomplished.”

Top Tech Buzzwords Everyone Uses but Don’t Quite Understand (2012)

‘Big Data’ and ‘The Cloud’ are the Most Confusing Tech Buzzwords of the Decade (thus far)

SOA continues its reign as most confusing acronym

Austin, Texas, March 15, 2012 — ’Big Data’ and ‘The Cloud’ are the Most Confusing Tech Buzzwords of the Decade (thus far) according to the The Global Language Monitor. Topping the list for 2012 are: Big Data, the Cloud, The Next Big Thing, Social Discovery, Web 2.0 (3.0, and so on). Solid State, CERN, Solar Max, De-dupe, 3G/4G/5G, and SoLoMo..Continuing as the most confusing acronym now of the century: SOA..GLM releases its Most Confusing Tech Buzzwords list annually in conjunction with Austin’s SXSW Interactive conference, which ends March 20th..

“High tech terms have long spilled into popular culture and this is nowhere more evident that at SXSW where the digital world intersects with those of music and the movies,” said Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor. ”To a large and growing extent, high tech buzzwords are fueling the growth of English, which now serves as the Earth’s means of global communication.”

“SXSW can best be described as a weird mash-up of Cannes, COMDEX, and Woodstock. If creative ideas don’t mix here, it’s just not going to happen.

The Global Language Monitor uses a proprietary algorithm, the Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) to track the frequency of words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the Blogosphere, as well as accessing proprietary databases. The PQI is a weighted Index, factoring in: long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum, and velocity..The Most Confusing High Tech Buzzwords of the of the Second Decade of the 21st century, thus far (2010, 2011 & 2012) with commentary follow:

Big Data — Big Data is the biggest buzzword. It has been called the key to new waves of productivity growth, essential to the US place in global economics, and more. Now if only we could agree on exactly what this means and how we get there. (By the way, consider yottabytes: a quadrillion gigabytes. Hint: Just think a lotta bytes.)
‘The Cloud — The Cloud, in various manifestations has been ranked No. 1 for 2008, No, 4 overall for the decade, and now as No. 2 for 2012. Still all very nebulous.
The Next Big Thing — A cliche rendered nearly meaningless by the innumerable daily claims made by VCs, entrepreneurs, college drop-outs, etc. Actually, you can count the history of next big things on your fingers, and possibly toes.
Social Discovery — Webster’s 1910 definition. “Consisting in union of mutual converse,” might be an excellent corporate strategy.
Web 2.0 (3.0, and so on) — Ranked as the 1,000,000th English-language word in 2009, it just keeps morphing along.
Solid State — As in Solid State Disks (SSDs). Remember ‘solid-state’ televisions switched from vacuum tubes (Paleozoic)? How about LED watches from the ’80s (Mesozoic)? Today, it’s all-about Solid State Disks.
CERN — You might want to understand the acronym before the Earth is swallowed up the ‘mini’ black hole it just might create . (The European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Solar Max — In the 1850s telegraph wires melted. Best not to shuck off the hype here.
De-dupe — First we dupe, then we de-dupe; Flash forward to 2014: Re-duping! Ah, the next big thing!
3G/4G/5G — One of the benefits of having an open, open standard (AKA, no standard). Anybody can claim to lead as the (Generation) ‘standard’ expands into meaningless.
SoLoMo — This is not an oh-so-trendy neighborhood like Soho or Dumbo, at least not in the sense of brick-and-mortar. This is the convergence of Social, Local, and Mobile. The Talk of the Town at SXSWi this week in Austin.

The Most Confusing Tech Acronym of 2012: SOA (Solutions Oriented Architecture), continuing its Most Confusing Tech Acronym of the Decade reign. Not only is there an highly popular SOA for Dummies edition but Google Books list 47,300 editions that explicate upon the subject..For reference, here is the first decade (2000-2009) of the 21st century..The Most Confusing High Tech Buzzwords of the first decade (2000-2009) of the 21st century with Commentary follow:

HTTP — HyperText Transfer Protocol is used for HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files. Not to be confused with text on too much Starbucks.
Flash — As in Flash Memory. “Flash’ is easier to say than “ I brought the report on my EEPROM chip with a thin oxide layer separating a floating gate and control gate utilizing Fowler-Nordheim electron tunneling”.
God Particle – The Higgs boson, thought to account for mass. The God Particle has eluded discovery since its existence was first postulated some thirty years ago.
Cloud Computing – Distributing or accessing programs and services across the Internet. (The Internet is represented as a cloud.)
Plasma (as in plasma TV) — Refers less often to blood products than to a kind of television screen technology that uses matrix of gas plasma cells, which are charged by differing electrical voltages to create an image.
IPOD – What the Alpha Whale calls his personal pod. Actually, Apple maintains that the idea of the iPod was from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey. The origin of the word IPAD is a completely different story.
Megapixel – Either a really large picture element (pixel) or a whole mess of pixels. Actually, one million pixels (that’s a lotta pixels) OK, what’s a pixel? Computer-ese for picture element.
Nano – Widely used to describe anything small as in nanotechnology. Like the word ‘mini’ which originally referred to the red hues in Italian miniature paintings, the word nano- is ultimately derived from the ancient Greek word for ‘dwarf’.
Resonate – Not the tendency of a system to oscillate at maximum amplitude, but the ability to relate to (or resonate with) a customer’s desires.
Virtualization – Around since dinosaurs walked the planet (the late ‘70s) virtualization now applies to everything from infrastructures to I/O.
Solution — Ever popular yet still an amorphous description of high tech packages of hardware, software and service
Cookie — Without cookies with their ‘persistent state’ management mechanism the web as we know it, would cease to exist.
Robust — No one quite knows what it means, but it’s good for your product to demonstrate robustness
Emoticon A smiley with an emotional component (from emotional icon). Now, what’s a smiley? :’)
De-duping – Shorthand for de-duplication, that is, removing redundant data from a system.
Green washing – Repositioning your product so that its shortfalls are now positioned as environmental benefits: Not enough power? Just re-position as energy-saving.
Buzzword Compliant — To include the latest buzzwords in literature about a product or service in order to make it ‘resonate’ with the customer.
Petaflop — A thousand trillion (or quadrillion) floating point operations per second Often mistaken as a comment on a failed program by an animal rights’ group.
Hadron – A particle made of quarks bound together by the strong force; they are either mesons (made of one quark and one anti-quark) or baryons (made of three quarks).
Large Hadron Collider – The ‘atom smasher’ located underground outside Geneva. Primarily built to re-create the conditions of creation, 1 trillionth of a second after the Big Bang.

‘Silence’ is the Top HollyWord of 2011

Ceremony generates Jolie Leg Internet Meme (i-Meme)

9th Annual Global Survey by the Global Language Monitor

Austin, Texas, March 6, 2012. (Update) ‘Silence’ is the Top HollyWord of 2011 according the ninth annual global analysis by the Global Language Monitor. ‘Silence’ encompassing silent movies, the silence of dead and dying loved-ones, the deadly silence of the battlefield before an attack – as well as the deafening silence of historically anemic 2011 box office and attendance figures.

‘Silence’ topped Mai Oui! Iconic, Transformations, and Separateness for the top honors, while Domestics, Dramedy, Bathroom Humor, Why, and Muppets rounded out the top ten.

“In 2011 Hollywood had a full slate of award-worthy films as reflected by this year’s Oscar winners,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst for the Global Language Monitor, “The films reflected a deeper exploration into the human experience as reflected in a silent movie, various encounters in and around Paris, death, dying, separation and rebirth”.

Each year, GLM announces the Top HollyWords following the Oscar ceremony. The 84rd Annual Academy Awards ceremony, hosted by Billy Crystal was held last Sunday at the Hollywood and Highland Center in Los Angeles.

The Top Hollywords of the 2011 season with the largest impact on the English language with commentary follow..Rank / Word or Phrase / Commentary

Silence – Silent movies, (the Artist), a wife’s silence (Descendants), a father’s silence (Extremely Loud), the deadly silence among the trenches of WWI (Warhorse) but most all silence at the box office, with the lowest attendance since the 1995.
Mai oui! – A big year for the City of Light and France: Hugo, Midnight in Paris, TinTin (which first appeared as a comic in French), Warhorse, and, of course, the irrepressible Jean Dujardin .
Iconic – (My Week with Marilyn) – Michelle Williams helps us better understand how this shy, frail woman become the iconic image of a very complicated time.
Transformations (Iron Lady and Albert Nobbs) – In a year with a plethora of visual effects, none were more startling than those of Meryl Streep and Glenn Close.
Separateness (A Separation) – The Iranian film about divorce that demonstrates the common threads that binds humanity together.
Domestics (The Help) – ‘Domestic Servants’ was the actual term with an emphasis, of course, on the servant.
Dramedy (The Descendants) – Dramedy, a comedy within the structural framework of a drama, a staple of sitcoms, successfully made the leap to the silver screen.
Bathroom Humor (Bridesmaids) – The women strive to both out-gross and gross-out their male competition.
Why? (The Tree of Life) — Why all the oil-spinning emulsions when images from the Hubble have been seared into our consciousness?
Muppets (The Muppets) – A new generation is introduced to Jim Henson’s family friendly varmints.

Bonus: Ides (Ides of March) – There’s really nothing very special about the Ides of March. In the Roman calendar, every month had its ides.GLM used NarrativeTracker 2.0 for this analysis. NT2.0 is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new media sources, as they emerge..Previous Top HollyWord Winners include:.2010 Grit: firmness, pluck, gritty, stubborn, indomitable spirit, courageous, and brave perseverance.2009 ‘Pandora’ from Avatar2008 “Jai Ho!” Literally ‘Let there be Victory’ in Hindi from Slumdog Millionaire2007 “Call it, Friendo,” from No Country for Old Men2006 “High Five!!! It’s sexy time!” from Borat!2005 ‘Brokeback’ from Brokeback Mountain2004 “Pinot” from Sideways2003 ‘Wardrobe malfunction’ from Super Bowl XXXVIII

Lin-sanity Accepted into English Lexicon … Lin-ough already!?

… after Tebowing the start of a Global Linguistic Trend?

Austin, Texas February 24, 2012– Lin-sanity, the excitement generated by the rapid ascension of the un-drafted, un-heralded, 23 year old Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks basketball team, has been acknowledged as an English language word according to the Global Language Monitor. Lin is the only native-born American of either Chinese or Taiwanese descent playing in the NBA and the fact that he is an acknowledged nerd, a Christian — as well as a recent Harvard grad — only also adds to his intrigue.

It also helps to have a name that lends itself to obviously short-lived, yet clever neologisms such as: Linspiration, Linderella, Linvitation, Linvisible, a Linja warrior. Lin-ough, already!

Since there is no official agency for accepting new words into English language such as the Académie française for French,the Global Language Monitor recognizes new words once they meet the criteria of a 25,000 citations across the breadth of the English-speaking world, with the requisite depth of usage in books, journals and periodicals, on the Internet, blogosphere, social media, and in the top 75,000 global print and electronic media.

Linsanity, without the hyphen, has recently met and surpassed all these criteria.

“Linsanity following the ascension of the word ‘tebowing’ (from the knee-bending, devoutly Christian quarterback and his winning exploits for the Denver Broncos football team) so quickly might herald the beginning of a linguistic fad.

A fad where the names of sports personalities are continually blended with conventional terms into interesting new word forms that convey the achievement, personality, or other characteristic of the competitor,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor. ”

History records a number of such linguistic fads such as words ending with the suffix ‘-ama’ in the 1950s (Cinerama, Lumberama, and Wonderama) or in the prefacing the names of political figures with ol’ or old in mid-19th c. America (such as Old Abe (Lincoln) or Old Kinderhook (for Martin van Buren and the origin of the word ‘OK’).

With the London 2012 Olympics on the horizon, it will be interesting to see if the fad becomes a multi-lingual global phenomenon.

Does anyone remember Phelpsian Pheats?”

The Duchess Effect Top Fashion Buzzword of 2012

The Duchess Effect (Kate Middleton in yet Another Guise) Top Fashion Buzzword of 2012

Pippa’s Bum also makes the list

The Fifth Annual Analysis by the Global Language Monitor

New York, February 9, 2012 – Kate Middleton, now entitled Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, again stands atop the Fashion Buzzword List of 2012, this time as ‘the Duchess Effect’, according to the annual analysis by the Global Language Monitor (GLM). This is the first time someone has topped the list two years running. Previously Lady Gaga held the No. 1 and No. 2 positions during the 2010 and 2011 seasons respectively, Ms. Gaga dropped off the list for 2012.

Following ‘The Duchess effect’ were ‘peplums’, ‘braid bars’, ’pyjamas’, and ‘Pippa’s bum’. Rounding out the Top Ten were ‘paisley,’ Gatsby’, ‘pale colors,’ ‘tangerines,’ and ‘novelty denim’.

“The Duchess Effect appears to extend much further than the economic impact of Kate’s fashion choices; this year the fashion landscape seems to be a brighter, more accessible place with the styles more colorful, feminine and graceful than we’ve observed in many years, said Bekka Payack, GLM’s Manhattan-based Fashion Director. “Fashion is now being influenced from all points on the globe, with the rise of the regional fashion centers driving tribal, sustainable and eco-based trends”.

New York Fashion Week begins February 9^th and kicks off the global calendar, immediately followed by London, Milan, and Paris.

GLM used NarrativeTracker 2.0 for this analysis. NT2.0 is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new media sources, as they emerge.

The Top Fashion Buzzwords for 2012 with commentary follow:

The Duchess Effect – The positive economic impact of Kate Middleton’s fashion choices, derived from her new title, ‘the Duchess of Cambridge’.
Peplums – Kate (Hepburn) and Rosiland sported them in ‘40s flicks; now it’s your turn.
Braids – And a new twist is ‘braid bars:’ ‘I’ll have a G&T and some funky braids, please; make it to go.’
Pyjamas – Though the trend has spread from the campuses to the catwalks, you can’t get a Stella McCartney in the discount bin at Target’s.
Pippa’s Bum – Absurdly large media interest tracks the Duchess’ sister in general and her bum in particular.
Paisleys – No they were not invented during the Summer of Love, and not even in 17^th c. Scotland; they have been in and out of style for more than millennium and a half.
Gatsby – That’s right, not Gangsta’ but Gatsby. Call it ‘20s Luxe.
Pale Colors – Such as glacier blue, minimal whites, lavender, or spindrift.
Tangerines – Such as Tangerine Tango for nails and accessories.
Novelty denim – With prints and dyes, stitched, embroidered, or bejeweled, it almost like a ‘60s’ ‘happening’
Luxe Hides — Super luxurious animal skins, faux and otherwise. (See below.)
African Prints – Fierce, gently, mesmerizing or subtle.
Ankle Boots – Worn with skirts, bare or with stockings, leggings or pants.
Mixed florals – Beaucoup of bouquets, mixed together and sorted printed over all.
Color blocking – Boldly bright and boldly blocked.
Vintage styles of the ‘20s (Flappers).
Vintage styles of the ‘40s (tea dresses).
Vintage styles of the‘50s (Clean, crisp, all-American).
Ethical Fashion – Taking a bolder stand, moving into the mainstream with Stella McCartney and Ally Hewson leading the way.
Sustainable Fashion – Not just from Austin, Berkeley and Portland anymore.

Each summer, the Global Language Monitor ranks the Top Fashion Capitals by Internet presence. London overtook New York City as the Top Global Fashion Capital for 2011. London and New York were followed by Paris, Milano, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong. Barcelona, Singapore, Tokyo and Berlin rounded out the top ten.

Trending Top Words of 2012: End-of-World stories, Kate, China, CERN, the Olympics

Global Language Monitor’s Top Words of 2012 projections from current word trends

AUSTIN, Texas December 26, 2011 – Trending 2012: Multiple End-of-World scenarios, Kate, China, CERN, the Olympics, The US Elections will dominate word creation and usage in the English language in 2012.

This is according to current word trends in global English being tracked by the Global Language Monitor. Last month, Austin, Texas-based Global Language Monitor had announced that ‘Occupy’ was the Top Word, ‘Arab Spring’ the Top Phrase and ‘Steve Jobs’ the Top Name of 2011 in its twelfth annual global survey of the English language.
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The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.83 billion speakers (January 2012 estimate).
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The Projected Top Words of 2012
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1. Kate — There are seven billion humans on the planet but sometimes it seems that it’s all about Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, the former Kate Middleton in terms of fashion, celebrity, and the royal line.
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2. Olympiad — The Greeks measured time by the four-year interval between the Games. Moderns measure it by medal counts, rights fees and billions of eyeballs.
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3. Middle Kingdom – There is little indication that China’s continuing economic surge will fade from the global media spotlight –or abate.
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4. Bak’tun — A cycle of 144,000 days in the Maya ‘Long Count’ Calendar. This bak’tun ends on December 21, 2012, also being called the Mayan Apocalypse. (Actually Maya ‘long-count’ calendars stretch hundreds of millions of years into the future, December 21st merely marks the beginning of a new cycle.)
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5. Solar max — The peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle; in 1854 solar storms melted telegraph wires; what’s in store for our all-pervasive electronic infrastructure?
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6. The Election — No Obama-mania this time around, more of an Obama-ennui for the November 6 elections.
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8. Rogue nukes — Iran and North Korea will be the focus of attention here.
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9. CERN — Neutrons traveling faster than light? The ‘God Particle’? The world ending in a mini-black hole? All these somehow revolve around CERN (The European Center for Nuclear Research). One CERN scientist calculated that the chance of a mini-Black Hole swallowing the Earth is less than 1 in 50,000,000. Somewhat comforting until you realize this is about ten times more likely than winning a national lottery.)
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10. Global Warming — The earth has been warming since New York was covered under a mountain of ice; what makes 2012 any different?
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11. Near-Earth Asteroid — Yet another year, another asteroid, another near-miss. (However, one does strike the Earth every one hundred million years or so.)
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GLM employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time.
NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources as they emerge.

“The year 2012 looks to be a vibrant year for the English language with word creation again driven by events both scheduled and unanticipated. Typically there is an ‘end-of-the-world’ scenario every few years that impacts the English language. This year we will see no fewer than three, including the Maya Apocalypse and the Solar Max,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM.

”Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, will compete with the London Olympics, the economic surge of China, various activities involving the CERN atom smasher, and the US presidential election for Top Word honors, though we always allow for word creation generated from unexpected events such as Hurricane Katrina in 2005 or the Japanese ‘triple disaster’ of 2011.”

Rank / Word / Comments

7. Deficit — Looks like deficit-spending will plague Western democracies for at least the next decade.

12. Europe — United, breaking apart, saving the Euro, abandoning the Euro, with the UK again as an ‘interested onlooker’. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

Bonus Phrase: The successor term for ‘Arab Spring’, whatever that might be.

Tebowing Accepted into English Language

Six-week rise of the Global Phenomenon

Austin, Texas December 12, 2011 (Dec. 16 update)– Tebowing, the act of ’taking a knee’ in prayerful reflection in the midst of an athletic activity, has been acknowledged as an English language word according to the Global Language Monitor.

<a href="http://www.myfoxaustin.com/dpp/video/Tebowing-Enters-English-Language-20111215-ktbcw#axzz1gfYD5LEK" target="_self" class="broken_link">Tebowing Enters English Video</a> </p>
<p> — Tebowing Enters English Video

The rapid rise of use of the word has seldom been equaled, mirroring, for example, the rate of adoption of the word Obamamania in early 2008. The first mention of the word can be traced to the dramatic overtime victory of the Denver Broncos football team over the Miami Dolphins on October 23, 2011. During the victory celebration, Tim Tebow ‘took a knee’ and was photographed in a moment of prayerful reflection. Tebow is the 2007 Heisman trophy winner who led the University of Florida to the 2008 BCS National Championship.

Though there is no official agency for accepting new words (or neologisms) into the English lexicon such as France’s Académie française, since 2003 the Global Language Monitor has been recognizing new words once they meet the criteria of a minimum number of citations across the breadth of the English-speaking world, with the requisite depth of usage on the Internet, in social media and in the top 75,000 global print and electronic media.

“Sports have become significant generators of new cultural trends and memes that transcend the athletic arena”, said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor. ”The ESPN sports broadcasting network has widely championed the word. Jared Kleinstein’s tebowing.com website, devoted to people posing in the ‘tebowing position’, has been wildly popular. The New York Times has recently carried an editorial on the subject and the Chinese search engine, Baidu.com, already has hundreds of citations for tebowing.” (See ’Tebowing Goes Global’ in The Daily Beast.)

The Urban Dictionary defines ‘tebowing’ as ”To get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different’.

The English language currently has some 1.58 billion speakers around the globe.

GLM released its Top Words, Phrases and Names of the Year lists on November 10th. Occupy is the Top Word of the Year, Arab Spring the Top Phrase of the Year, and Steve Jobs the Top Name of the Year.

GLM employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources.

GLM TV

A Selection of Global Language Monitor Media Appearances

Obama’s Favorite Catchphrases (The Daily)

Top Ten Words of 2010 on NBC Nightly News

Top Ten Words of 2010 on Letterman

Stephen Colbert’s Send-up of GLM’s Analysis of Obama’s Gulf Oil Spill Speech

The Colbert Report	Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Obama’s Simplified BP Oil Spill Speech
www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

Global Language Monitor tracks and analyzes… by tvnportal

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BBC America: ‘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.

Matt Frei reports on English’s unique linguistic evolution and then spoke to Global Language Monitor’s Paul Payack who helped find this millionth English word.

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One Million Words and Counting: NBC

NBC News: One Million Words and Counting

Watch ABC NightLine: ‘The Word Nerd’ Discovers the Millionth Word

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Now you can watch the Global Language Monitor Channel on

All Language News, Any time You Want It!..Top All-time Bushisms (CNN)..

No. of Words

Number of Words in the English Language: 1,013,913

The number of words in the English language is : 1,013,913. This is the estimate by the Global Language Monitor for January 1, 2012.

The English Language passed the Million Word threshold on June 10, 2009 at 10:22 a.m. (GMT). The Millionth Word was the controversial ‘Web 2.0′. Currently there is a new word created every 98 minutes or about 14.7 words per day.

Google Validates GLM’s No. of Words in English Prediction

GLM/Google vs OED and Webster’s 3rd

Follow GLM on Facebook . Follow GLM On Twitter

Though GLM’s analysis was the subject of much controversy at the time, the recent Google/Harvard Study of the Current Number of Words in the English Language is 1,022,000. The above graphic is from the AAAS /Science as reported on NPR. At the time the New York Times article on the historic threshold famously quoted several dissenting linguists as claiming that “even Google could not come up with” such a methodology. Unbeknownst to them Google was doing precisely that.

The number of words in the English language according to GLM now stands at: 1,010,649.7. The difference between the two analyses is .0121%, which is widely considered statistically insignificant.

Google’s number, which is based on the counting of the words in the 15,000,000 English language books it has scanned into the ‘Google Corpus,’ mirrors GLM’s Analysis. GLM’s number is based upon its algorithmic methodologies, explication of which is available from its site.

For Frequently Asked Questions about the Million Word March, go Here

Linguists Fret as the World Celebrates Global English

‘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.

Matt Frei reports on English’s unique linguistic evolution and then spoke to Global Language Monitor’s Paul Payack who helped find this millionth English word.

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Web 2.0 beats Jai Ho & N00b as 1,000,000th English Word

English passed the Million Word mark earlier today, June 10 at 10:22 am GMT

Word Number 1,000,001: Financial Tsunami

Austin, Texas June 10, 2009 – The Global Language Monitor today announced that Web 2.0 has bested Jai Ho, N00b and Slumdog as the 1,000,000th English word or phrase. added to the codex of fourteen hundred-year-old language. Web 2.0 is a technical term meaning the next generation of World Wide Web products and services. It has crossed from technical jargon into far wider circulation in the last six months. Two terms from India, Jai Ho! and slumdog finished No. 2 and 4. Jai Ho! Is a Hindi exclamation signifying victory or accomplishment; Slumdog is an impolite term for children living in the slums. Just missing the top spot was n00b, a mixture of letters and numbers that is a derisive term for newcomer. It is also the only mainstream English word that contains within itself two numerals. Just missing the final five cut-off, was another technical term, cloud computing, meaning services that are delivered via the cloud. At its current rate, English generates about 14.7 words a day or one every 98 minutes.

These are the fifteen finalists for the one millionth English word, all of which have met the criteria of a minimum of 25,000 citations with the necessary breadth of geographic distribution, and depth of citations.

1,000,000: Web 2.0 – The next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you.
999,999: Jai Ho! – The Hindi phrase signifying the joy of victory, used as an exclamation, sometimes rendered as “It is accomplished”. Achieved English-language popularity through the multiple Academy Award Winning film, “Slumdog Millionaire”.
999,998: N00b — From the Gamer Community, a neophyte in playing a particular game; used as a disparaging term.
999,997: Slumdog – a formerly disparaging, now often endearing, comment upon those residing in the slums of India.
999,996: Cloud Computing – The ‘cloud’ has been technical jargon for the Internet for many years. It is now passing into more general usage.
999,995: Carbon Neutral — One of the many phrases relating to the effort to stem Climate Change.
999,994: Slow Food — Food other than the fast-food variety hopefully produced locally (locavores).
999,993: Octomom – The media phenomenon relating to the travails of the mother of the octuplets.
999,992: Greenwashing – Re-branding an old, often inferior, product as environmentally friendly.
999,991: Sexting – Sending email (or text messages) with sexual content.
999,990: Shovel Ready – Projects are ready to begin immediately upon the release of federal stimulus funds.
999,989: Defriend – Social networking terminology for cutting the connection with a formal friend.
999,988: Chengguan – Urban management officers, a cross between mayors, sheriff, and city managers.
999,987: Recessionista – Fashion conscious who use the global economic restructuring to their financial benefit.
999,986: Zombie Banks – Banks that would be dead if not for government intervention and cash infusion.
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In addition, the 1,000,001^st word is Financial Tsunami – The global financial restructuring that seemingly swept out of nowhere, wiping out trillions of dollars of assets, in a matter of months.

Each word was analyzed to determine which depth (number of citations) and breadth (geographic extent of word usage), as well as number of appearances in the global print and electronic media, the Internet, the blogosphere, and social media (such as Twitter and YouTube). The Word with the highest PQI score was deemed the 1,000,000th English language word. The Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) is used to track and analyze word usage.
Global Language Monitor has been tracking English word creation since 2003. Once it identifies new words (or neologisms) it measures their extent and depth of usage with its PQI technology.

English Language Millionth Word Finalists Announced:

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Includes alcopops, bangster, de-friend, n00b, quendy-trendy, slumdog, and wonderstar

English to Pass Millionth Word June 10 at 10:22 am GMT

Million Word March Now Stands at 999,824

Austin, Texas May 29, 2009 – The Global Language Monitor today announced the finalists for the Million Word March. The English Language will cross the 1,000,000 word threshold on June 10, 2009 at 10:22 am Stratford-Upon-Avon time.

“The Million Word milestone brings to notice the coming of age of English as the first, truly global Language”, said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor. “There are three major trends involving the English language today: 1) An explosion in word creation; English words are being added to the language at the rate of some 14.7 words a day; 2) a geographic explosion where some 1.53 billion people now speak English around the globe as a primary, auxiliary, or business language; and 3) English has become, in fact, the first truly global language.”

Due to the global extent of the English language, the Millionth Word is as likely to appear from India, China, or East L.A.as it is to emerge from Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s home town). The final words and phrases under consideration are listed below. These words represent each of the categories of Global English that GLM tracks, Since English appears to be adding a new word every 98 minutes or about 14.7 words a day, the Global Language Monitor is selecting a representative sampling. You can follow the English Language WordClock counting down to the one millionth word at www.LanguageMonitor.com.

These words that are on the brink of entering the language as the finalists for the One Millionth English Word:

Australia: Alchopops – Sugary-flavored mixed drinks very much en vogue.

Chinglish: Chengguan – Urban management officers, a cross between mayors, sheriff, and city managers.

Economics: 1) Financial Tsunami – The global financial restructuring that seemingly swept out of nowhere, wiping out trillions of dollars of assets, in a matter of months. 2) Zombie Banks – Banks that would be dead if not for government intervention and cash infusion.

Entertainment: Jai Ho! — From the Hindi, “it is accomplished’ achieved English-language popularity through the multiple Academy Award Winner, “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Fashion: 1) Chiconomics – The ability to maintain one’s fashion sense (chicness) amidst the current financial crisis. 2) Recessionista – Fashion conscious who use the Global economic restructuring to their financial benefit; 3) Mobama – relating to the fashion-sense of the US First Lady, as in ‘that is quite mobamaish’.

Popular Culture: Octomom (the media phenomenon of the mother of the octuplets).

Green Living: 1) Green washing – Re-branding an old product as environmentally friendly. 2) E-vampire – Appliances and machines on standby-mode, which continually use electrical energy they ‘sleep’. 3) Slow food: — Food other than the fast-food variety hopefully produced locally (locavores).

Hinglish: Chuddies – Ladies’ underwear or panties.

Internet: 1) De-follow – No longer following the updates of someone on a social networking site. 2) De-friend – No longer following the updates of a friend on a social networking site; much harsher than de-following. 3) Web 2.0 – The next generation of web services.

Language: Toki Pona – The only language (constructed or natural) with a trademark.

Million Word March: MillionWordWord — Default entry if no other word qualifies.

Music: Wonderstar – as in Susan Boyle, an overnight sensation, exceeding all reasonable expectations.

Poland: Bangsters – A description of those responsible for ‘predatory’ lending practices, from a combination of the words banker and gangster.

Politically incorrect: 1) Slumdog – a formerly disparaging comments upon those residing in the slums of India; Seatmates of size – US airline euphemism for passengers who carry enough weight to require two seats.

Politics: 1) Carbon neutral — One of the many phrases relating to the effort to stem Climate Change. 2) Overseas Contingency Operations – The Obama re-branding of the Bush War on Terror.

Sports: Phelpsian – The singular accomplishments of Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics.

Spirituality: Renewalist – Movements that encompass renewal of the spirit; also call ‘Spirit-filled’ movements.

Technology: 1) Cloud Computing – The ‘cloud’ has been technical jargon for the Internet for many years. It is now passing into more general usage. 2) N00b — From the Gamer Community; a neophyte in playing a particular game; used as a disparaging term. 3) Sexting – Sending email (or text messages) with sexual content.

YouthSpeak: Quendy-Trendy — British youth speak for hip or up-to-date.

Extra Credit:

French word with least chance of entering English Language: le courriel for E-Mail.

Most recognized English-language word on the planet: O.K.

Each word is being analyzed to determine which is attaining the greatest depth (number of citations) and breadth (geographic extent of word usage), as well as number appearances in the global print and electronic media, the Internet, the blogosphere, and social media (such as Twitter and YouTube). The Word with the highest PQI score will be deemed the 1,000,000th English language word. The Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) is used to track and analyze word usage.

Global Language Monitor has been tracking English word creation since 2003. Once it identifies new words (or neologisms) it measures their extent and depth of usage with its PQI technology.

In Shakespeare’s day, there were only 2,000,000 speakers of English and fewer than 100,000 words. Shakespeare himself coined about 1,700 words. Thomas Jefferson invented about 200 words, and George W. Bush created a handful, the most prominent of which is, misunderestimate. US President Barack Obama’s surname passed into wordhood last year with the rise of obamamania.

Pick the Definition, May 28, 2009

Test your vocabulary skills on words about to officially enter the English language

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The English Conquest (May 17, 2009)

Chinglish Enriches English Vocabulary with Chinese Features (May 13)

News Magazine

The words in the mental cupboard

April 28, 2009

Watch: When Does a Word Become a Word?

BBC World Service, April 22, 2009

Special Report, April 23, 2009

Neologisms

It’s difficult to track the number of words in the English language, since neologisms–new words–are coined every day. The Global Language Monitor claims our lexicon will welcome its millionth word by the end of this month; other experts disagree.Whenever it does occur, will the millionth word be something from the business world, like “carpocalypse,” describing the state of the automotive industry? Or from Hollywood, like “momager,” the mother of a celebrity who also serves as business manager? In these stories, we look at our changing language and highlight some of the new words that have entered it.Read on and you won’t be an ugsome noob.

The Economist Predictions for 2009 Preview:

English Marks a Million

Listen to the segment on Morning Edition

Save the Date: English nears a milestone (Christian Science Monitor)

News Forcaster: When will English pass 1 million words?

Current forecast: after 3/30/08 and before 4/30/08 (45% chance)

A Contrary View of the Million Word March

ENGLISH AND ITS ODDITIES ; The word factory keeps producing

The Million Word March in Smithsonian Magazine

THE WORLD IN WORDS: Top Words of 2008

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Essay: The Number of Words in the English Language

There are many things in the Universe that can never be precisely measured but that doesn’t stop Humankind from attempting to take their measure.

For example, there are on the order of:

7,000 human languages and dialects (6,912 to be precise);
About 50,000 ideograms in the various Chinese dialects (though countless more words);
About 100,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way galaxy (and some 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe);
Over 35,500,000 residents of California;
And then there are 10 raised to the power of 72 atomic particles in the universe; that is, precisely:

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atomic particles;

There are fewer than 100,000 words in the French language;
There are some some 6.5 billion folks on the planet; (and about 20 billion that have ever walked upon the Earth);
Fewer than 20,000 different words in the Bible, (actually, 12,143 in the English, 783,137 total in the King James Version, 8,674 in the Hebrew Old Testament, and 5,624 in the Greek New Testament);
And 24,000 differing words to be found in the complete works of Shakespeare, about 1,700 of which he invented.

Finally, if you emptied all the water out of Lake Tahoe and spread it evenly over all of California it would be about 14 inches deep, Not that anyone would ever attempt to do so. Or actually care.

Which brings us to the number of words in English.

The central idea of writing is, of course, the idea. Ideas by their very nature are wispy sorts of things. This being so, you can’t grab an idea and do with it what you will. Rather the best for which one can hope is to encapsulate the idea and preserve it for time immemorial in some sort of ethereal amber. We call this amber, language; the basic building block of which is, of course, the word. (We are speaking now as poets and not as linguists.)

As such, writers of English have the good fortune of having hundreds of thousands of words from which to choose. When you think of it, the English language writer always has at least three words for any idea, each rooted in the Latin, the Germanic or Saxon tongues, and the Greek. Think of a word for human habitation: city, town, metropolis, and so on. And that’s just the start. In the English-speaking world we also owe a heavy debt to Algonquin, and Hebrew, and Malay (ketchup anyone?) and Maori, and Zulu and Hmong among a multitude of others. I think you can spot the beginnings of a trend here.

And then there is the entire realm of ”jargon,” scientific and otherwise, those specialized patois or vocabularies known only to those in specific fields. Computer-related jargon is multiplying at an extraordinary rate. And since English has become the lingua Franca of the Internet, English words are being created and non-English words co-opted at an ever-quickening pace.

Scientists estimate that there are approximately 10,000,000,000 neurons in a typical human brain. Each of these neurons can theorectically interconnect with all the rest.

This being so, the number of interconnects within a single human brain is greater than the entire number of atomic particles in the universe.

If you equate these interconnects to ideas, or even thoughts, the number of potential words needed to express them is, indeed, staggering on the order of billions and billions of trillions.

This being said, I now unequivocally state that as of the 1st day of January in the year 2012 AD (or CE, whatever your preference), we estimate that there will be some 1,013,913 words in the English language, plus or minus a handful.

Choose well among them.

PJJP

Austin, Texas, USA

Top Words of 2011, ‘Occupy’ is 2011 Word of the Year

Occupy is the Top Word of the Year,

Arab Spring is the Top Phrase of the Year and

Steve Jobs is the Top Name of the Year

Global Language Monitor’s 12th Annual Survey of Global English

AUSTIN, Texas December 6, 2011 (Updated from November 10) — The Global Language Monitor has announced that ‘Occupy’ is the Top Word, ‘Arab Spring’ the Top Phrase and ‘Steve Jobs’ the Top Name of 2011 in its annual global survey of the English language. Occupy was followed by deficit, fracking, drone, and non-veg. Kummerspeck, haboob, 3Q, Trustafarians, and (the other) 99 rounded out the Top 10.

“Our selections this year, to a large extent, reflect the ongoing political and economic uncertainty that seems to be affecting much of the developed world – with notable exceptions such as the Royal wedding and the continuing rise of China ,” said Paul JJ Payack, President of the Global Language Monitor.
“Our top words, phrases and names this year come from five continents… confirmation of the ever-expanding influence of the English language.
“The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.58 billion speakers. The Global Language Monitor’s Word of the Year rankings are based upon actual word usage in the English speaking world.
“In global English, words are not bestowed upon, agreed upon, or voted upon by cultural or academic elites but, rather, words are defined from the bottom up, that is, by the people themselves — and this is true whether in the East End of London, or south-central LA, the projects in Brooklyn, the slums of Kingston, the call centers of Mumbai, the streets of Singapore, the text messages out of Shanghai, or the fashion districts of Sydney.”

GLM employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 75,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources.

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See the Photo Essay from the Toronto Star

BBC Magazine:

.2011, l’année Steve Jobs?

(Time Person of the Year?)

Nunberg also selects ‘occupy’ as the 2011 Word of the Year

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The Top Words of 2011

Rank / Word / Comments

1. Occupy – ‘Occupy’ has risen to pre-eminence through Occupy Movement, the occupation of Iraq, and the so-called ‘Occupied Territories’. (Also named by NPR and Time.)

2. Deficit – Growing and possibly intractable problem for the economies of the developed world.

3. Fracking – Hydraulic fracturing is a controversial method for extracting fossil fuels from hitherto unreachable deposits.

4. Drone – The ever increasing number of remotely piloted aircraft used for reconnaissance and attack purposes.

5. Non-veg – A meal served with meat, originally from India, now catching on worldwide.

6. Kummerspeck – From the German seeing wider acceptance in the English, excess weight gained from emotional overeating (grief bacon).

See the Photo Essay from The Stylist (UK)

7. Haboob – A name imported from the Arabic for massive sandstorms in the American Southwest.

8. 3Q – Near universal term for ‘thank you’ now earning additional status after being banned from official Chinese dictionaries. Another example of the ever- increasing mixing of numbers and letters to form words.

9. Trustafarians – Well-to-do youth (trust-funders) living a faux-Bohemian life style, now associated with the London Riots.

10. (The Other) 99 – Referring to the majority of those living in Western Democracies who are left out of the dramatic rise in earnings associated with “the Top 1%”.

The Top Phrases of 2011

Rank / Phrase / Comment

1. Arab Spring – The series of uprisings, social protests, and rebellions occurring among many nations of the Arab World beginning this spring.

2. Royal Wedding – The wedding of the former Kate Middleton and heir-to-the-British-Throne, Prince William that captivated millions around the world.

3. Anger and Rage – Characterizations of the global electorate by the pundits, though closer analyses has revealed more frustration than anger and more disappointment than rage.

4. Climate Change – No. 1 phrase for the first decade of the 21st century; still resonates into its second decade.

5. The Great Recession – Though officially over, the media term most frequently used to describe the on-going global economic restructuring.

6. Tahrir Square – The scene of the ‘25th of January’ demonstrations in Cairo against Hosni Mubarak.

7. Linear No Threshold (LNT) – The methodology to calculate risk from exposure to radioactive elements from the Fukushima Daiiachi disaster.

8. Bunga Bunga – Re-emerged in the language through ‘bunga-bunga’ parties hosted by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

9. ‘How’s that working out for you?’ – The New York Times credits Sarah Palin, but it predates her use of the phrase by several decades.

10. “Make no mistake about it!” – President Obama has repeated the phrase thousands of times since his 2008 election.

The Top Names of 2011

Rank / Name / Comments

1. Steve Jobs – The citations for Steve Jobs topped those for No. 2 (Osama bin-Laden and Seal Team 6) by more than 30%.

2. Osama bin-Laden & Seal Team 6 – Who changed the world more? Al-Qaeda or Steve Jobs?

3. Fukushima – The epicenter of the Japanese Triple Disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown).

4. Mohamed Bouazizi – the Tunisian fruit vendor who set himself afire and became the symbol of Tunisian resistance – and the Arab Spring.

5. Chinese Paramount Leader Hu Jintao – The Rise of the Tiger being a primary cause of the Global Economic Restructuring.

6. Kate Middleton – She captivated the world with her elegance and style and continues to do so as the Duchess of Cambridge.

7. Muammar Gaddafi – Libyan strongman toppled in the recent insurrection.

8. President Obama – Hope and Change retreat further into the history books; the game plan is now for survival.

9. PIIGS – The nations of Portugal, Ireland, Italy Greece and Spain taken together for their untenable deficits possibly affecting the economic health of the Eurozone.

10. Yaroslavl Lokomotiv – The ill-fated elite Russian hockey team that was virtually wiped out in the crash of a three-engine Yak-42.

Top Words of the Decade

The Top Words of the Decade Global Warming, 9/11, and Obama outdistanced Bailout, Evacuee, and Derivative; Google, Surge, Chinglish, and Tsunami followed. Climate Change was top phrase; Heroes was the top name.

Previous Words of the Year include:

2010:
Top Words: No. 1 Spillcam, No. 2 Vuvuzela, No. 3 The Narrative
Top Phrases: No. 1 Anger and Rage, No. 2 Climate Change, No. 3 The Great Recession
Top Names: No. 1 Hu Jintao, paramount leader of China, No. 2 iPad, No. 3 Barack Obama

2009:
Top Words: No. 1 Twitter, No. 2 Obama-, No. 3 H1N1
Top Phrases: No. 1 King of Pop, No. 2 Obama-mania, No. 3 Climate Change
Top Names: No. 1 Obama, No. 2 Michael Jackson, No. 3 Mobama

2008:
Top Words: No. 1 Change, No. 2 Bailout, No. 3 Obama-mania
Top Phrases: No. 1 Financial Tsunami, No. 2 Global Warming, No. 3 “Yes, We Can!”
Top Names: No. 1 Barack Obama, No. 2 George W. Bush, No.3 Michael Phelps

2007:

Top Words: No. 1 Hybrid (representing all things green), No. 2: Surge
Top Phrase: Climate Change
Top Name: Al Gore

2006:
Top Word: Sustainable
Top Phrase: Stay the Course
Top Name: Dafur

2005:
Top Words: No. 1, Refugee No. 2: Tsunami No. 3: Katrina
Top Phrase: Outside the Mainstream
Top Name: (acts of ) God

2004:
Top Word: Incivility (for inCivil War)
Top Phrase: Red States/Blue States No. 2: Rush to War
Top Name: Dubya/Rove

2003:
Top Word: Embedded
Top Phrase: Shock and Awe, No. 2: Rush to War
Top Name: Saddam Hussein, No. 2 Dubya

2002:

Top Word: Misunderestimate

Top Phrase: Threat Fatigue
Top Name: W (Dubya)

2001:
Top Word: Ground Zero
Top Phrase: ‘Lets Roll’
Top Name: The Heros

2000:
Top Word: Chad
Top Phrase: Dot.com
Top Name: W (Dubya)

About The Global Language Monitor

Austin-Texas-based Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English.

For more information, call 1.512.815.8836, email info@LanguageMonitor.com, or visit www.LanguageMonitor.com.

Chad

Egad! What’s the ‘chad’ blocking the path to the White House?

November 13, 2000
Web posted at: 11:19 a.m. EST (1619 GMT)

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — The final answer to who’s going to be the next U.S. president may be determined by “chad.”

GALLERYChads through history GLOSSARYNot ready for Webster’s: What is a pregnant chad?

So who, or what, is chad?

A) A country in Africa?

B) The name of a saint?

C) Rob Lowe’s brother?

D) A lowly scrap of paper that may decide who will be the next leader of the free world?

All four answers are correct. Chad is also the name of a couple of major league baseball players and one half of a British pop-singing duo from the ’60s.

But if you guessed “D,” you are informed enough to understand the vote counting process in Florida.

Politicians are tossing the term “chad” around as if everyone were familiar with the word. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore’s campaign adviser, George Mitchell, is among them.

“You can run those machine ballots through five times and you’ll get five different totals because the chads fall off with each count,” he said, explaining on “Fox News Sunday” the reason he believes ballots in Florida should be recounted by hand.

But Mitchell’s use of “chads” betrayed his own lack of familiarity with the word. “Chad is its own plural,” said Paul J.J. Payack, president and CEO of yourdictionary.com, which is based in California.

The Web site www.yourdictionary.com defines the word as follows:

1. The confetti-like scrap punched out of cards or paper tape (also “chaff,” “computer confetti” or “keypunch droppings”).

2. The perforated strips on the edge of paper for sprocket feed printers after they have been separated from the printed portion (also “perf,” “perfory,” or “snaf”).

Etymology: Possibly from the last name of the inventor of the Chadless cardpunch, which cut U-shapes in punch cards, rather than open circles or rectangles. (The U’s formed holes when folded back.)

“Chad” would then be a back-formation from “Chadless” misunderstood: If the Chadless keypunches don’t produce it, other keypunches must produce “chad.”

The word appears to have entered the national lexicon in the late 1940s, around the time people began to refer to “bug” as a computer glitch after a researcher blamed a moth among a group of vacuum tubes for affecting ENIAC, the primitive computer powered by thousands of such tubes, said Payack. That was also about the time when IBM began using punch cards that warned users not to fold, spindle or mutilate.

In Florida, vote-counters may have wished for a “chadometer” to measure whether a bit of chad is sufficiently dislodged to qualify it as “dangling.”

When the hand recount began in Palm Beach County, the canvassing board there said it would count a vote if any of the corners of the chad were punched.

The board then decided that they would instead use the “sunlight test” — if they could see sun through an indentation, it would count.

About a quarter of the way through the counting, however, a board member determined that the light test was flawed and told the other members to go back to the first test.

According to county spokesman Bob Nichols, there are five types of chad.

Ones that count:
• Hanging door — one corner hanging off
• Swinging door — two corners hanging off
• Tri-chad — three corners hanging off

Chads that don’t count:
• Pregnant — bulges, but not punched through
• Dimple — simple indentation

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

archives.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/11/12/chad.derivation/

Do these 15 Wonderful Words Actually Have No English Equivalent?

San Francisco. July 24, 2011 – We first saw the story, 15 Wonderful Words With No English Equivalent, on the MentalFloss outlet (a genuinely interesting site for esoterica lovers), compiled by Bill DeMain. His attribution states that “many of the words above can be found in BBC researcher Adam Jacot de Boinod’s book ‘The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World.”

In the last few days we have tracked it thousands of times around the English speaking world, which now happens to encompass the globe. We are intrigued by the idea that there, indeed, might be no equivalent English words or phrases for these terms.

After all there are as of today, July 24th, 2011 the Global language Monitor calculates that there are approximately 1,010,649.7 words in the English language. (The language gains a new word every ninety-eight minutes, hence the, we admit, totally extraneous decimal point.)

So here’s the challenge to lovers of the language. Do these 15 Wonderful Words Actually Have No English Equivalent?

Send us your suggestions to: 15WonderfulWords@LanguageMonitor.com, and we will publish what our readers come up with.

Here’s the list original story:

15 Wonderful Words With No English Equivalent

by Bill DeMain, July 22, 2011

The Global Language Monitor estimates that there are currently 1,009,753 words in the English language. Despite this large lexicon, many nuances of human experience still leave us tongue-tied. And that’s why sometimes it’s necessary to turn to other languages to find le mot juste. Here are fifteen foreign words with no direct English equivalent.

1. Zhaghzhagh (Persian)
The chattering of teeth from the cold or from rage.

2. Yuputka (Ulwa)
A word made for walking in the woods at night, it’s the phantom sensation of something crawling on your skin.

3. Slampadato (Italian)
Addicted to the infra-red glow of tanning salons? This word describes you.

4. Luftmensch (Yiddish)
There are several Yiddish words to describe social misfits. This one is for an impractical dreamer with no business sense. Literally, air person.

5. Iktsuarpok (Inuit)
You know that feeling of anticipation when you’re waiting for someone to show up at your house and you keep going outside to see if they’re there yet? This is the word for it.

6. Cotisuelto (Caribbean Spanish)
A word that would aptly describe the prevailing fashion trend among American men under 40, it means one who wears the shirt tail outside of his trousers.

7. Pana Po’o (Hawaiian)
“Hmm, now where did I leave those keys?” he said, pana po’oing. It means to scratch your head in order to help you remember something you’ve forgotten.

8. Gumusservi (Turkish)
Meteorologists can be poets in Turkey with words like this at their disposal. It means moonlight shining on water.

9. Vybafnout (Czech)
A word tailor-made for annoying older brothers—it means to jump out and say boo.

10. Mencolek (Indonesian)
You know that old trick where you tap someone lightly on the opposite shoulder from behind to fool them? The Indonesians have a word for it.

11. Faamiti (Samoan)
To make a squeaking sound by sucking air past the lips in order to gain the attention of a dog or child.

12. Glas wen (Welsh)
A smile that is insincere or mocking. Literally, a blue smile.

13. Bakku-shan (Japanese)
The experience of seeing a woman who appears pretty from behind but not from the front.

14. Boketto (Japanese)
It’s nice to know that the Japanese think enough of the act of gazing vacantly into the distance without thinking to give it a name.

15. Kummerspeck (German)
Excess weight gained from emotional overeating. Literally, grief bacon.

Remember to send us your suggestions for English-language equivalents to: 15WonderfulWords@LanguageMonitor.com or info@LanguageMonitor.com.

Number of Words in the English Language: 1,013,913

The number of words in the English language is: 1,013,913. This is the estimate by the Global Language Monitor on January 1, 2012.

Google Validates GLM’s No. of Words in English Prediction

GLM/Google vs OED and Webster’s 3rd

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For more detail, go here.

Though GLM’s analysis was the subject of much controversy at the time, the recent Google/Harvard Study of the Current Number of Words in the English Language is 1,022,000. The above graphic is from the AAAS /Science as reported on NPR. At the time the New York Times article on the historic threshold famously quoted several dissenting linguists as claiming that “even Google could not come up with” such a methodology. Unbeknownst to them Google was doing precisely that.

The number of words in the English language according to GLM now stands at: 1,013,913. The difference between the two analyses is .0121%, which is widely considered statistically insignificant.

Hubbub over ‘Haboob’ in Arizona?

Psst! So are Alcohol, Algebra, Chemistry, Guitars and Zeroes …

.

Hundreds of Words of Arabic Origin are Considered Authentic English language words

San Francisco. July 22, 2011. Haboobs, those dust storms invading the Southwestern United States these days, might be called as American as Apple Pie — or at least as English as fish and chips. The word, according to an analysis by the Global Language Monitor conducted earlier this week, is actually considered an English-language word, found in unabridged dictionaries, hundreds of thousands of times on the Internet, and hundreds of times in the print media and scholarly works as least as far back as the 19th century.

When Arizona-based weather forecasters used ‘haboob’ to describe the fierce wind- and dust-storms their were immediate calls to stop use of that term since it is of Arabic in origin, and might be insulting to American and NATO forces stationed in Arabic-speaking lands.

“If you find that the word ‘haboob’ is inappropriate because of its Arabic origin, then you better start thinking about:

alcohol,

algebra,

chemistry,

guitar,

zero,

and the hundreds of other words of Arabic origin that are members in excellent standing in contemporary English, said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM.

“The English language has thousands upon thousands of words that it has ‘borrowed’ from hundreds of languages over its fourteen hundred year lifespan. Unfortunately, once English ensnares one these ‘loan’ words, they seldom ever escape”.

Fighting Words: ‘Reliable,’ ‘Talented’ And Other Americanisms

by BILL CHAPPELL

In this free-wheeling era, when the English language is often applied with little supervision, it’s common for purists to complain about the abuse of words.

For instance, I dislike it when things are indicated instead of said. And impact gets rough treatment, as it’s transmogrified into a Franken-adjective (impactful) and is too often made to serve as a substitute for affect — probably by people who are unsure whether to use that word or effect.

And there should be a petition to remove the word literally from use, for at least a lengthy rehabilitation and perhaps a permanent retirement.

But I was surprised to learn that in 19th-century Britain, readers viewed words like lengthy and reliable as signs of the coming apocalypse. It turns out that those words, along with talented andtremendous, were imports from America.

As Matthew Engel writes at the BBC, “The poet Coleridge denounced ‘talented’ as a barbarous word in 1832, though a few years later it was being used by William Gladstone. A letter-writer to the Times, in 1857, described ‘reliable’ as vile.” [Read More]

What Started the “Two Way” discussion (Below)

By Matthew Engel I have had a lengthy career in journalism. I hope that’s because editors have found me reliable. I have worked with many talented colleagues. Sometimes I get invited to parties and meet influential people. Overall, I’ve had a tremendous time.

Lengthy. Reliable. Talented. Influential. Tremendous.

All of these words we use without a second thought were never part of the English language until the establishment of the United States.

The Americans imported English wholesale, forged it to meet their own needs, then exported their own words back across the Atlantic to be incorporated in the way we speak over here. Those seemingly innocuous words caused fury at the time.

The poet Coleridge denounced “talented” as a barbarous word in 1832, though a few years later it was being used by William Gladstone. A letter-writer to the Times, in 1857, described “reliable” as vile.

[Read More on the BBC]

Wednesday’s Words …

Top HollyWORDS: Grit tops Arrogance, Abdicate, Stammer, and Madness

As Summer Blockbuster Season Peaks, a Look Back at the Top Hollywords from 2010

8th Annual Global Survey by the Global Language Monitor

Austin, Texas. July 12, 2011. As summer blockbuster season peaks, a look back at the top words from the movies that influenced the English language from 2010.

For the first time a single word representative of a number of the year’s blockbusters, Grit, tops the list of Hollywords as named by the Global Language Monitor. Grit topped arrogance, abdicate, stammer, and madness. Dream-stealers, nerds, Borogoves, shard, and 3-D rounded out the top ten.

“For the first time a single word was representative of a number of the year’s Oscar winning films,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst for the Global Language Monitor, “According to Webster’s the term, grit, has the following senses that applied to these films: firmness, pluck, gritty (as in soot-covered), stubborn, indomitable spirit, courageous, and brave perseverance.”

The Top Hollywords of the 2010 season with the largest impact on the English language with commentary follow.

1. The word grit has been defined in a number of ways by Webster that reflects many of the virtues of this year’s nominees.

Grit is, of course, from the title of Best Picture nominee True Grit, as exemplified by the character’s played by Jeff Bridges (firmness) and Hailee Steinfeld (pluck).
The action of The Fighter took place against the backdrop of one of the nation’s fabled gritty cities: Lowell, Massachusetts into which Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Leo and Christian Bale expertly blended.
127 Hours portrayed the stubborn courage of a man driven to desperate acts to ensure his survival.
The accidental and courageous king and his indomitable tutor as portrayed by Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush in The King’s Speech.
Woody’s brave perseverance to keep his fellow toys together in Toy Story 3.

2. Arrogance – Deftly depicted in both The Social Network and Inside Job.

3. Abdicate – Another generation learns of cowardice in high places, again; this time it’s found in the British Royal Family as depicted in The King’s Speech.

4. Stammer and/or Stutter – If you paid close attention you might actually notice the difference between a stammer and a stutter in Colin Firth’s dialogue.

5. Madness – We are told there is no such thing as ‘madness’ in the 21^st century, but whatever we may call it, in the Black Swan Natalie Portman’s creates a dramatic portrait of the descent into it.

6. Dream-Stealers – (and dream shapers and sowers). Evidently, new career options for the 21^st century endless-recession economy introduced to us by Leonardo DiCaprio and his film Inception. The timid need not apply.

7. Nerd – Once more, we are fascinated by the rise of the nerd in The Social Network … though most nerds never overcome their nerdness, and only the most rare of exceptions is able to cash in on it.

8. Borogoves – Alice in Wonderland sheds a bit of light on the ‘borogoves’. As you know, they were all ‘mimsy’ in Charles Lutwidge Dodgson’s nonsense poem, Jabberwocky.

9. Shard – Though widely confused with the word ‘shred’ as in a ‘shred of truth’, Harry Potter finds a mirror shard, in which he catches a glimpse of a blue eye and keeps it for later use. From Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.

10. 3D CGI – (Three-dimensional, Computer-generated imagery) Five of the top ten grossing films of 2010 were CGI-based 3D, accumulating some $1.3B domestically: Toy Story 3, Despicable Me, Shrek Forever After, How to Train Your Dragon, and Tangled. Whether this is a transformative trend or a passing fad has yet to be determined.

Previous Top HollyWord Winners include:

2009 ‘Pandora’ from Avatar

2008 ‘Jai Ho!’ Literally ‘Let there be Victory’ in Hindi from Slumdog Millionaire

2007 “Call it, Friendo,” from No Country for Old Men

2006 ‘High Five!!! Its sexy time!’ from Borat!

2005 ‘Brokeback’ from Brokeback Mountain

2004 “Pinot” from Sideways

2003 ‘Wardrobe malfunction’ from Super Bowl XXXVIII

Proof of Literary Greatness?

GLM Comment : We think not. But perhaps an unexpected ability to fashion an English Sentence.

One week ago today, the MoJo DC bureau was consumed by the arrival of Sarah Palin’s emails covering the first half of her half-term as Alaska’s governor. As David Corn detailed, there were plenty of interesting discoveries—a less than chilly attitude toward climate change, for instance, and a sometimes obsessive attitude toward media critics (marginal and otherwise).

While we were poring over the documents, though, Michael McLaughlin of AOL’s Weird News was taking a different approach:

AOL Weird News brought samples to two writing analysts who independently evaluated 24,000 pages of the former governor’s emails. They came back in agreement that Palin composed her messages at an [8.5] level, an excellent score for a chief executive, they said…

“She’s very concise. She gives clear orders. Her sentences and punctuations are logical,” Payack said. “She has much more of a disciplined mind than she’s given credit for.”
Although it’s like comparing apples to oranges, Payack said that famous speeches like Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was a 9.1 and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” oration rated a 8.8 on the scale.

Having read several thousand pages of the Palin emails, I think apples and oranges might be a bit of an understatement here. But there’s also a bit of truth there: Palin’s written communications are noticeably more coherent than her efforts to explain herself verbally (witness: Paul Revere-gate).

John McWhorter on Palin’s ‘remarkedly lucid prose’

Palin’s Emails: What Her Remarkably Lucid Prose Says About the Art of Teaching Writi

John McWhorter
June 16, 2011 | 12:00 am

Sarah Palin’s emails are telling us something about remedial writing classes at our universities and colleges, and it’s not what you think. Call her defensive or parochial based on the cache of her spontaneous writings while serving as governor of Alaska, but

something easy to miss is that Palin, in contrast to her meandering, involuted speaking style, is a thoroughly competent writer—more so than a great many people most of us likely know, including college graduates.

Indeed, her facility in writing proves something one might be pardoned for supposing she was exaggerating about in Going Rogue, her autobiography, in which she limns a childhood portrait of herself as a bibliophilic sort of tot:

Reading was a special bond between my mother and me. Mom read aloud to me – poetry by Ogden Nash and the Alaska poet Robert Service, along with snippets of prose …. My siblings were better athletes, cuter and more sociable than I, and the only thing they had to envy about me was the special passion for reading that I shared with our mother.

That’s right, Sarah “you betcha” Palin was, of all things, a bookworm, excited to learn to spell “different” and winning a poetry contest for a poem about Betsy Ross. And as such, it is predictable that her emails would evidence such casually solid command of the language—even if her oral rendition of it is a different matter entirely.

Once we understand that, it leads to some serious questions, as posed by books getting buzz at present such as Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa’s Academically Adrift and In the Basement of the Ivory Tower by the anonymous “Professor X.” How sensible is our assigning millions of freshmen each year to classes intended to teach them a skill so deeply rooted in unconscious facilitation at an early age?

To get a sense, it helps to see a few of these emails. Because email is written speech, it’s easy to miss artfulness in them. Yet, take this Palin passage: “Even CP has admitted locking up tax rates as Glenn suggests is unacceptable to the legislature, the Alaskan public, this administration, and the Constitution.”

The spelling is flawless—and unlikely to be completely a product of spell-check, which misses errors and often creates others. More to the point, she has an embedded clause (“locking up tax rates”) nested into a main one, with another clause “as Glenn suggests” nested within the embedded one. That’s good old-fashioned grammar school “syntax.” I have known plenty of people with B.A.s who could barely pull it off properly at gunpoint, and several others who would only bother to at gunpoint.

Equally graceful despite its mundane content: “Cowdery telling a kid what’s acceptable and what isn’t inside these four walls??? Puleeeze. A three-pound puppy vs. all the CBC crap that he helped dump around here?” You hear an actual human voice here. We tell some people “I can hear your voice in the way you write”—because it’s unusual for people to be able to “write” themselves. Palin is one of the people who can. [Read More.]

Palinpalooza: GLM analysis for Huffington Post

Sarah Palin’s Emails Written At 8th Grade Level — Better Than Some CEOs

The huge cache of Sarah Palin’s emails released Friday offered not only a chance to see what she was writing about during her uncompleted term as Alaska’s governor, but also an opportunity to see how well she writes.

AOL Weird News brought samples to two writing analysts who independently evaluated 24,000 pages of the former governor’s emails. They came back in agreement that Palin composed her messages at an eighth-grade level, an excellent score for a chief executive, they said.

“I’m a centrist Democrat, and would have loved to support my hunch that Ms. Palin is illiterate,” said2tor Chief Executive Officer John Katzman.

“However, the emails say something else. Ms. Palin writes emails on her Blackberry at a grade level of 8.5.

“If she were a student and showing me her work, I’d say ‘It’s fine, clear writing,’” he said, admitting that emails he wrote scored lower than Palin’s on the widely used Flesch-Kincaid readability test.

“She came in as a solid communicator,” said Paul J.J. Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor. The emails registered as an 8.2 on his version of the test. “That’s typical for a corporate executive.”

An example of Palin’s strongest writing came on Jul. 17, 2007 in an email to Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell about the controversial Gravina Island Bridge, infamously called the “Bridge to Nowhere.”

“We cant afford it, the Feds won’t pay for it, the general populace isn’t placing it as a high priority … can you diplomatically express that?! Of course we want infrastructure — and this is NOT a “bridge to nowhere” (that is so offensive), but as it stands today with the highest-cost bridge design selected by the Ketchikan community, we need to find a lower-cost alternative [if] a bridge will be built.”

“She’s very concise. She gives clear orders. Her sentences and punctuations are logical,” Payack said. “She has much more of a disciplined mind than she’s given credit for.” [Read More.]

Those in charge decide which words matter

.By Michael Skapinker

Is “aarrghh” a word? Not if you are playing Scrabble with me. If it is not in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary: put your tiles back and think again. “Aargh” is acceptable (an expression of anguish, horror, rage, or other strong emotion, according to the OED), but not “aarrghh”. My board, my rules.

Others disagree. “Aarrghh” appears in the Collins Official Scrabble Words. Collins’ latest edition also includes “thang”, “innit” and “nang”. Commentators greeted the Scrabble book by bemoaning the decline of the language and berating publishers who pandered to the young.

The new Collins book appeared on the same day that the CBI, the UK employers’ organisation, published a survey showing that 42 per cent of companies were dissatisfied with school leavers’ English skills. Are the two events connected?

Japanese Disasters Need-to-Know Glossary Update

Added: Chest x rays, Black swans, Dinosaur extinction event, Two packs-a-day

AUSTIN, Texas, March 21, 2011 — (Updated Daily) The Global Language Monitor has assembled the Japanese Disasters Need-to-Know Glossary to help understand the sometimes obtuse and ofter obscure terminology used in describing the concurrent Japanese Disasters that we are now witnessing.

We will add to the document as events continue to unfold.

“This is a tragedy of unprecedented proportions. We believe it is our responsibility to help people around the globe more fully understand the depth of the destruction and the nature of the circumstances that have already have and continue to unfold,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor.

Can Your Family or Business Survive a Disaster for Three Days? Click Here!

Term	Definition
1.6 microseconds	Number of microseconds the Earth’s spin was increased by the Sendai earthquake
9.0 magnitude	The Japanese quake was 9.0 on the Richter Scale. This makes it about 700,000 times more powerful than last year’s Haitian earthquake. (See Richter Scale.)
12.5 magnitude	Theoretical magnitude of the Chicxulub asteroid impact 65,000,000,000 years ago that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. (However, mammals live through it.)
900 kph	The waves of the tsunami traveled traveled about as fast as of typical passenger jetliner (About 560 mph/900 kph)
Black Swan	Black Swan: rare but Nation-destroying disasters: an asteroid hitting the earth; a super volcano (Yellowstone Caldera) rending half a continent lifeless; a solar flare that destroys all modern communication systems. The Japanese Tri-Crisis qualifies as a Black Swab.
Cesium-137	Metal of the Alkali group that can signal the presence of a nuclear reaction. The half-life of Cesium 137 is 30 years. This means it would take about 200 years for something contaminated with it to lose all signs of radioactivity. Its name is derived from the Latin for a bluish-gray color
Chernobyl	The Chernobyl incident in Ukraine in 1986 was considered the world’s worst nuclear accident until now. A carbon-fed fire sent the radioactive elements high into the atmosphere affecting every country in Europe.
Chest X Ray	Each chest x ray exposes you to about .04 mSv. A major surgery might require 1,000 x rays, which would result in 40 mSv. A single CT heart scan results in a 12 mSv exposure.
China Syndrome	Theory that a molten nuclear core breeches its containment vessel (in the US) and proceeds through the Earth’s core all the way to China. This is not actually possible. (See Tierra del Fuego syndrome.)
Containment Building	(or vessel) Reinforced concrete structure made to serve as final barrier to entrap radioactive gases
Earthquake	Shaking of Earth’s crust due to underlying tectonic forces
Epicenter	The center of the earthquake, ofter miles underground.
Fuel Rods	The affected Japanese reactors have thousands of 12-foot long, zirconium-alloy fuel rods. Each contain thousands of uranium-oxide ceramic pellets. The fuel rods are densely packed into the reactor.
Fukushima 50	The fifty workers serving as the final defense against a catastrophic meltdown at Fukushima Daiichi.
Fukushima Daiichi	The nuclear reactors site with six boiling water reactors. 1, 2 and 6 were built by General Electric. 3, 4 and 5 were built by Toshiba. Fukushima Daiichi is 241 km (150 miles) from Tokyo.
Half-Life	The time it takes radioactive material to expend one half of its radioactivity. The longer the half-life, the more dangerous the material.
Hiroshima Bomb	The Hiroshima atomic bomb was detonated on August 6, 1945. It’s yield was estimated between 13 and 18 kilotons of TNT. It was set equivalent to a 6.2 magnitude quake.
IAEA	International Atomic Energy Agency is headquartered in Vienna.
Indian Ocean Tsunami	The Indian Ocean Tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004 resulted in waves over 18 meters (50 feet) high. Over 250,000 people were killed, some 5,000 km (3000 m) away.
International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES)	The INES, introduced in1990 by the IAEA, has seven levels, with 1-3 considered incidents and 4-7, accidents. The Fukushima incident was recently moved from Level 4 to 5 (equivalent to Three Mile Island). Chernobyl is the only Level 7 accident on record.). The French Nuclear Agency suggests Fukushima to be a Level 6.
Iodine-131	Iodine-131 is a highly radioactive element that signifies at least a partial meltdown. The half-life of Iodine-131 is about 8 days, which means that it decays far faster than Cesium-137. The radioactive iodine is concentrated in the thyroid, however taking iodine potassium tablets fill the thyroid to capacity so the radioactive Iodine -131 is more likely to be excreted.
Krakatoa	Indonesian Volcano that exploded in 1883 with a force equivalent to 8.5 magnitude (and some 200 megatons). Purported to be the loudest sound ever heard up to 5,000 km (or about 3,000 miles). The sound waves were measured to circle the earth seven times.
Linear No Threshold Model	LNT basically it means that even a small exposure to radioactivity will increase the chance of cancer occurring in a corresponding small percentage of the population. The smaller the exposure, the smaller the risk, but the risk never falls to zero. The LNT model is generally accepted by most governments and scientific agencies, but is considered controversial in some scientific circles. This is why you hear conflicting views from experts on the cancer risk.
Meltdown	When a core meltdown catastrophic melting of the core of a nuclear reactor due to a loss of cooling
No. 5	The earthquake was the fifth strongest since 1900.
Nuclear reactor	Devices that use chain reactions of fissionable materials to boil water to create steam. The steam runs through turbines to create power.
Plate tectonics	Theory that the continents rest on plates that drift into each other, causing earthquakes and mountain building
Prefecture	States or Provinces of Japan. There are 47 prefectures.
Richter scale	The logarithmic scale that measures the strength of an earthquake named after Charles Richter. It is a base-10 logarithmic scale. This means that an earthquake that measures 3.0 is 10 times more powerful that one measuring 2.0. The scale is open-ended, though the 1960 Chile quake measured at 9.6.
Sendai Earthquake	At 9.0 the Sendai earthquake was the fifth largest since 1900. The Sendai quake was equivalent to about 100,000 Hiroshima-class bombs.
Sievert and millisievert	(and millisievert) A unit of measurement for radiation dosage. According to the World Health Organization, the average person is exposed to about 3 millisieverts a year from natural sources and 3 mSv from human-made sources.
Three Mile Island	In 1979 Unit No. 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania experienced a partial meltdown. Later it was found that the molten radioactive material penetrated within 1 centimeter of breaking through the containment barrier. Because of its location and the prevailing wind patterns, the fallout could have traveled over the heavily populated Eastern Seaboard, passing over Philadelphia, New York and possibly Boston with a population of more than 30,000,000.
Tierra del Fuego Syndrome	The China Syndrome when applied to the Far East (See China Syndrome.)
Tokyo	Capital of Japan with more than 30,000,000 people in its metropolitan area.
Tsar Bomba	The largest hydrogen bomb ever detonated, by the Soviet Union in 1961. It was about equal to a 7.8 magnitude quake in the general range of the San Francisco earthquake 0f 1908 and the Mount Saint Helen’s volcanic explosion in 1981.
Tsunami	From the Japanese tsu (harbor) and nami (wave); waves caused by undersea land movement; usually caused by earthquakes. A tsunami gathers destructive force as it nears land. Depending on the configuration of the shoreline, wave rise over ten-times in height.
Two Packs a Day	Smoking two packs of cigarettes a day exposes you to about 17 mSv per year. Smoke for a lifetime that’s 850 mSv.

BBC: An explanation for ‘bunga bunga’

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At last an explanation for ‘bunga bunga’

By Kathryn Westcott, BBC News

As the definition of ‘the moment’ changes, we can see the shift after the year 2000 by way of Google NGrams

Diogenes Searching Fior TRUTH in Ancient Greece

2017 Top Global Fashion Capital Backgrounder

HollyWords — Top Words of the Year from Films

British Vogue: New York Is The World’s Top Fashion Capital

Kate Usurps London Olympics

‘Covfefe’ Now Validated as an English-language Word

First Emoji Viewed as Word wo4rr

The Top Word of 2016 is not a Word, but a Mime

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… from New Girl, Big Bang & Modern Family

followed by Shell Shock, Bi-Polar, Dothraki and La Toti

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Ninth Annual Analysis by the Global Language Monitor

Obesogenic, Derecho (and gender-neutral ‘hen’) take on Apocalypse, Kate and Debt

‘

Number of Words in the English Language: 1,016,672 (July 6 estimate)

‘Big Data’ and ‘The Cloud’ are the Most Confusing Tech Buzzwords of the Decade (thus far)

SOA continues its reign as most confusing acronym

… after Tebowing the start of a Global Linguistic Trend?

Global Language Monitor’s Top Words of 2012 projections from current word trends

Tebowing Accepted into English Language

Six-week rise of the Global Phenomenon

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BBC America: ‘Millionth English word’ declared

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SEE ALSO

One Million Words and Counting: NBC

NBC News: One Million Words and Counting

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.

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Number of Words in the English Language: 1,013,913

GLM/Google vs OED and Webster’s 3rd

‘Millionth English word’ declared

SEE ALSO

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Web 2.0 beats Jai Ho & N00b as 1,000,000th English Word

English Language Millionth Word Finalists Announced:

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Includes alcopops, bangster, de-friend, n00b, quendy-trendy, slumdog, and wonderstar

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THE WORLD IN WORDS: Top Words of 2008

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Essay: The Number of Words in the English Language

Occupy is the Top Word of the Year,

Arab Spring is the Top Phrase of the Year and

Steve Jobs is the Top Name of the Year

Global Language Monitor’s 12th Annual Survey of Global English

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.

.

BBC Magazine:

.2011, l’année Steve Jobs?

(Time Person of the Year?)

Nunberg also selects ‘occupy’ as the 2011 Word of the Year

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The Top Words of 2011

Egad! What’s the ‘chad’ blocking the path to the White House?

by Bill DeMain, July 22, 2011

GLM/Google vs OED and Webster’s 3rd

Psst! So are Alcohol, Algebra, Chemistry, Guitars and Zeroes …

.

Hundreds of Words of Arabic Origin are Considered Authentic English language words

What Started the “Two Way” discussion (Below)

[Read More on the BBC]

Palin’s Emails: What Her Remarkably Lucid Prose Says About the Art of Teaching Writi

Sarah Palin’s Emails Written At 8th Grade Level — Better Than Some CEOs

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