March to the Millionth Word in English. Will it be Indian?

English, the language which breaks all boundaries, is truly a global language today... "Jai Ho", "Slumdog" or "cuddies" can join them...

 English, the language which breaks all boundaries, is truly a global language today. You don't need to know Chinese to travel to China anymore. Thanks to English.


Have you ever imagined how many words there might be in the English language? Paul JJ Payack has. And he says that in 4 days there will be a million words in the English language. And he also says that that word could be Indian or have an Indian connection "Jai Ho", "Slumdog" or "cuddies".


"Jai Ho", taken from the most popular movie of the year, "Slumdog Millionaire", is a trendy word, being used everywhere. It means "Let there be victory". But then again, "Jai Ho" is also said when singing praises to the Lord, right?


"Slumdog", is the other word taken from the same movie. It means a reproachful way to describe the people who live in the slum.


"Cuddies" is a modified form of "Chaddies" which means ladies underwear.


These 3 words are among 73 words shortlisted to become the millionth word in this word marathon. Other words include the Australian "Alchopops" which means Sugary-flavored mixed drinks very much in vogue, fashion related word "Chiconomics" which came due to the financial crisis where the ability to maintain one's fashion sense (chicness) amidst this situation was described, Sexting, that means sending email (or text messages) with sexual content etc.


Although some linguists in the world do not agree to this word collection, Payack feels this is a good method of collecting new words that are being popularly used all over the world. The website dedicated to word analysis and language monitoring (www.languagemonitor.com) uses a method called the "Predictive Quantities Indicator" (PQI) to track and analyze word usage.


Right now, there are 999,971 words. So, 29 more words are left for the millionth word. Payack remarks that "At the current pace of a new English-language word created about every 98 minutes, English will cross the Million Word Mark on June 10th, 2009 at 10:22 am (Stratford-on Avon Time)". Isn't that interesting? Shakespeare was born in Stratford-on Avon and he has given us 1700 new words! That's a fine reverence given to a great bard.


So, what would you like to find in 2 days? ... "Jai Ho", "Slumdog" or "cuddies" as the millionth word?

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