English Gets Millionth Word

Apparently, we haven't had so many new words since Shakespeare's time. The Telegraph reports that Wednesday the English language—which adds a word every 98 minutes, on average—will reach one million words, as measured by the Global Language Monitor. The GLM is an association of academics that tracks new words, acknowledging them once they've been used 25,000 times by media outlets, social networking sites, and other sources. Dictionaries have more stringent requirements for new words, including use over a certain period of time. Candidates for the millionth word include social networking staples "defollow" and "defriend"; "noob," a slightly negative term for folks new to a task or community; "greenwashing," which is what happens when companies become enviro-friendly; and "chiconomics," which is the new recession fashion.