Wednesday, June 10, 2009

1,000,000 words and counting

Word of the day: word (noun) unit of language, consisting of one or more spoken sounds or their written representation, that functions as a principal carrier of meaning. Words are composed of one or more morphemes and are either the smallest units susceptible of independent use or consist of two or three such units combined under certain linking conditions, as with the loss of primary accent that distinguishes blackʹbirdʹ from blackʹ birdʹ. Words are usually separated by spaces in writing, and are distinguished phonologically, as by accent, in many languages.

Today the 1,000,000th word entered the English language. And that word is Web 2.0.

Really? Web 2.0? That's the best you can do? I regularly make up words that are much better than that. Unfortunately, I can't think of any of those words right now, but still. Web 2.0? Gah.

The Global Language Monitor came up with the word and the official word count; some people agree with this, others not so much. Maybe they would be happier if the word wasn't web 2.0. (Are you sure?)

It should be noted that the 1,000,001th word has also come along: financial tsunami. That's officially worse than web 2.0.

1 comment:

sugarcoaster 袁婉君 said...

I heard this on 680News earlier today and you immediately came to mind. I knew you would think it was stupid.

Nice pretty blog ;)