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The Marshmallow Language
October 6, 2009
New words are adopted every day as our language evolves to keep pace with societal change. So the millionth word to be added to the English language should come as no surprise...
According to the website Global Language Monitor, the word that achieved this magic
milestone was 'Web 2.0', which is surely an apt reflection of how changes in our
society can affect the language we use to describe it.
Apparently, the competition among various words to achieve this special honour was
fierce, with 15 words making it through to the final, based on at least 25,000 citations
across a broad geographical sweep. Among the finalists that missed out were 'Hinglish'
words 'slumdog' and 'Jai Ho'. And the word(s) 'financial tsunami' became the 1,000,001st
word to be officially accepted.
The point of all this, of course, is to show you just how language evolves and 'breathes',
which makes it endlessly fascinating. If you're intent on becoming a journalist/writer,
you need to immerse yourself in the language and how it's used. A simple, effective
way of learning new words is to write them in your own 'dictionary' with their meanings,
and then learn, say, five of them every day.
You'll be amazed how quickly these words filter into your memory bank over time.
It goes without saying that reading is the best way of improving your language skills
and this should be a part of your everyday routine. As well as writing, of course!
Like journalism itself, the language evolves daily - there are 15 new words accepted
into that list every day!
Gary Smith
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