Examentrainers

We´re all speaking Geek

		The world wide web, which turned 15				words by scouring the internet. Every		10		Thanks to the internet, we are
		this week¹, has given us a fantastic				digital English dictionary was combed,				witnessing the second great age of the
		outpouring of new words				before adding in the emerging words,				neologism, a fantastic outpouring of
						the hybrids, Chinglish (Chinese-				words and phrases to describe new
						English), the slang, the linguistic odds				ideas or reshape old ideas in novel
						and sods, and even Hollywords, terms				forms of language. Today, a word does
						created by the film industry. If a word				not need the slow spread of verbal
						is used in English, it was acceptable.				usage or literature to gain acceptance.
				6		The nearest rival to English in				If a word works, the internet can
						sheer fecundity is Chinese, and with				breathe instant life into it.
						1.3 billion Chinese now being officially		11		You do not have to be Shakespeare
						urged to learn English, the result is				to forge words. George Bush is
						nomogamosis (It is on the list: “A state				constantly evolving new words, but no
1		FIFTEEN YEARS after the birth of the				of marital harmony; a condition in				one should misunderestimate the
		world wide web, the lines of battle are				which spouses are well matched.”) and				ability of lesser wordsmiths to do
		clear. On one side the still young				many, many offspring, some of them				likewise. So many words that ought to
		culture of the internet − anarchic,				rather sweet. Drinktea, for example, is				exist inexplicably do not. There should
		playful, joyfully (and sometimes				a sign on a shop door meaning closed,				be a term for that momentary flash of
		wilfully) inaccurate, global and				but also derives from the Mandarin for				embarrassment when a cell phone
		uncontrollable; on the other, the				resting.				rings and you wonder if it is yours; and
		traditional printed media - precise,		7		The so-called tipping point may				for the vague disappointment you feel
		polite, often national in perspective				have come in the mid-1990s at the				when you think you are about to
		and increasingly paranoid. The latter				same time as the invention of the first				sneeze, take a deep breath and then
		seeks to manage, limit and define the				effective web browser, for ever since				don’t. (National Public Radio in the US
		culture; the former delights in its				the web has served as a seedbed for				recently held a competition to name
		resistance to regulation.				language, for the cross-fertilisation				this proto-sneeze and came up with
2		The battle rages in the conflict				and rapid evolution of words.				“sniff-hanger”.) Why is there a word
		between Wikipedia, the sprawling		8		So far from debasing the language,				for déjà vu, but nothing to describe the
		internet encyclopaedia, and the				the rapid expansion of English on the				opposite experience, far more
		Encyclopaedia Britannica, the canon				web may be enriching the mother				common, of knowing something
		versus the loose cannon. This week it				tongue. Like Latin, it has developed				perfectly well but being quite unable to
		erupted in the nursery, when the best-				different forms that bear little relation				remember it?
		selling childcare expert Gina Ford				to one another: a speaker of Hinglish		12		Last year this newspaper reported
		threw a tantrum and launched her				(Hindi-English) would have little to				the existence, in the Bantu language
		bizarre attempt to shut down the				say to a Chinglish speaker. But while				Tshiluba, of the long-needed word
		Mumsnet website because some of the				the root of Latin took centuries to grow				ilunga, meaning “a person who is
		mums had been rude about her.				its linguistic branches, modern non-				ready to forgive any abuse for the first
3		But in no area of the culture is the				standard English is evolving at				time, to tolerate it a second time, but
		collision more intense than over the				fabulous speed. The language of the				never a third time”. Subsequent
		English language, for the web has				internet itself, the cyberisms that were				investigations suggested that the word
		changed English more radically than				once the preserve of a few web boffins,				may not exist in Tshiluba, but it exists
		any invention since paper, and much				has simultaneously expanded into a				now in English, as thousands of entries
		faster. According to Paul Payack, who				new argot of words and idioms:				on the web attest, and the language is
		runs the Global Language Monitor,				Ancient or Classic Geek has given way				better for it.
		there are currently 998,974 words in				to Modern Geek.		13		Rather than fight the word loans
		the English language, with thousands		9		The web has revived the				and word borrowings, the strange
		more emerging every month. By his				possibilities of word-coinage in a way				hybrids and new coinages, we should
		calculation, English will adopt its one				not seen since Shakespearean times,				welcome them. New words expand our
		millionth word in late November. To				when the language was gradually				world. They can even change it. If
		put that statistic another way, for every				assuming its modern structure but was				ilunga is the thrice-repeated offence
		French word, there are now ten in				not yet codified into dictionaries (the				that cannot be forgiven, then its
		English.				first comprehensive English dictionary				opposite is an Arabic word, taraadin,
4		That claim has enraged traditional				appeared in 1730). Then, as now, the				meaning “I win, you win”, the face-
		lexicographers. The 20-volume Oxford				lack of control, and the rapid				saving way to end an argument. As
		English Dictionary has 301,100				absorption of new terms and ideas				bombs fall on southern Lebanon and
		entries, and purists point out that				through exploration, colonisation and				missiles on northern Israel, the world
		Mr Payack has little in the way of				science, enabled a great flowering of				could profit from learning a new
		method and few criteria to define what				words. Of the 24,000 words used by				language, in which ilunga is solved by
		really constitutes a word. But that, of				Shakespeare, perhaps 1,700 were his				taraadin.
		course, is the point.				own inventions: besmirch, anchovy,
5		He found the remaining 697,874				shudder, impede.				The Times − BEN MACINTYRE

noot 1 This text dates from 2006.