With the increasing popularity of text messaging and social media sites like Twitter, which allow limited characters, people have become increasingly innovative with conventional English words. Laugh out loud has transformed into lol and even the simple ok is now better recognized as just k. It is therefore not surprising to hear that HarperCollins, one of the world's largest publishers has decided to start legitimizing the new language by adding it to the 12th print edition of the Collin's English dictionary.
In order to find the ones that were most widely used and understood, the company asked fans to submit their favorite made-up words on collinsdictonary.com. The officials then narrowed the thousands that were proposed, to a shortlist of ten by analyzing the usage of each word across a range of UK and International print, as well as, digital media.
The words were then released for public vote on Twitter. All fans had to do was tweet their favorite word using a hashtag. After sifting through the submissions, on Tuesday, June 10th, HarperCollins announced that adorkable (a blend of adorable and dork) had won its way into the publication with 30% of the votes. For those that are unsure of what it means here is the official definition that will appear in the September 2014 edition of the Collins English dictionary - a socially inept or unfashionable person that conducts themselves in a charming or endearing way.
Other words that were also popular included Felfie, a farmer selfie, Fatbery, a large mass of solid waste or grease clogging up a sewage system and Nomakeupselfie, selfie of a woman without her make-up, posted online to raise awareness for a charity.
Now that the HarperCollings has opened the door, don't be surprised to see engineered words getting increasingly popular, even among English experts.
Resources: dailymail.co.uk, guardian, co.uk
