Join In the Fun

They say a language that doesn’t evolve will become a dead or extinct language. As evidence that English is a living language, every year the publishers of English language dictionaries add to their pages words that have come into use through our changing culture. Supposedly, these words have, both, currency and potential longevity. I’m not so sure.

In 2009, the Word of the Year, for the New Oxford American Dictionary was (drum roll, please):

unfriend – to remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook

(Apparently, Blogger is sadly behind the times, since it's spell checker identifies both “unfriend” and “Facebook” as misspellings in the above definition.)

Some other interesting new English words that were validated by the dictionary folks in 2009 include:

intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle

screenager – a person in their teens or twenties who has an aptitude for computers and the Internet

freemium – a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content

deleb – a dead celebrity

frenemy – one who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy

locavore – one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible

What do you think the 2010 Oxford New Word of the Year will be?

Can you create your own original new word, serious or tongue-in-cheek? Give it a try and post your word as a comment here. Don't let me down! Get busy and get creative.

Here’s one of my own to kick off the fun (a bit lame, I know, but that means yours can be too):

mobile scone – a pastry bought at a coffee shop’s drive-through window and eaten for breakfast on the way to work