According to the Global Language Monitor, the English language
this week crossed a threshold as the "one millionth word"
entered the lexicon. That word? "Web 2.0." Global Language
Monitor has a methodology by which it measures "new" words
entering into English. Though "Web 2.0" has been around for
years, GLM's method of counting requires "a minimum of 25,000
citations with the necessary breadth of geographic distribution
and depth of citations." "Web 2.0" met that test this week, as
did "n00b" (word 999,998). Both words passed into mainstream
usage today, according to GLM. Also on the listed of official
new words this week: slumdog, cloud computing, Octomom
(seriously, Octomom), sexting, defriend, and recessionista. The
very precision of the "one million word" claim is patent
nonsense, of course, depending entirely on how you count words,
what's excluded, and what the criteria is for something going
"mainstream." GLM does not count, for instance, "the 600,000
species of mold" as separate words, nor do "the te