global-language-monitor

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  • Noob could be millionth English word

    by 
    Lesley Smith
    Lesley Smith
    05.12.2009

    Every gamer, at some point, has been called a noob. It's almost a rite of passage and it's not unique to MMOs either. Indeed such is the power of this simple word, which is short for newbie, that it could well become the millionth word in the English language.MSN are reporting that the Global Language Monitor (we've never heard of them either) have predicted that at the rate the English language is growing, the millionth word will arrive at approximately 10:22am British Summer Time on June 10th. How they can be this exact we don't know but various British newspapers, including tabloids like The Sun, to more reputable papers like The Independent, have decided that word is going to be 'noob'. Personally I was hoping for a brand new word rather than one that's been around for so long but we shall see.

  • 'Noob' among list of potential one-millionth English words, logic 'pwned'

    by 
    Ben Gilbert
    Ben Gilbert
    05.11.2009

    Though we're just as befuddled as you likely are by the news, the UK's Daily Telegraph recently pointed out that at 10:22AM on June 10th, the English language officially inducts its one-millionth word. Still not befuddled? Candidates for this esteemed position are products of our social media-obsessed age: "defollow" and "defriend," each referring to the act of removing a friend or follower on popular social networking services Twitter and Facebook, respectively. Worse? The third "word" in contention for the position: "Noob." We'll just let that sink in for a second. Back? Okay, so, according to The Global Language Monitor, words must be "used 25,000 times by media outlets, social networking websites and in other public sources" in order to be considered for official inclusion in the English language. If that number accounts for online multiplayer participants across PC and consoles, we're willing to bet that the word "noob" was used more than 25,000 times today alone. Here's hoping the misspelled portmanteau gets "pwned" by logic and doesn't end up as an official English word. [Via VG247]