English is a Giant Language
I remember learning Spanish and French... and struggling. These verb conjugations! The masculine and feminines! So damn frustrating.
Then someone told me how complicated English is, with its verb conjugations and the exceptions to those verb conjugations and rule-changing combinations of letters (i.e., ph, th, gh, ou). It had never occurred to me that English was complicated in any way, but as I thought about it... Yeah. It's a doozey.
Another reason it's a doozey? There are tons and tons of words in the English language. How many? How about the fact that we might have just crossed 1,000,000 words. Yes. That's one million.
Holy balls.
Then someone told me how complicated English is, with its verb conjugations and the exceptions to those verb conjugations and rule-changing combinations of letters (i.e., ph, th, gh, ou). It had never occurred to me that English was complicated in any way, but as I thought about it... Yeah. It's a doozey.Another reason it's a doozey? There are tons and tons of words in the English language. How many? How about the fact that we might have just crossed 1,000,000 words. Yes. That's one million.
Holy balls.
One thing that's different between English and Spanish is that there is an actual government office that manages the Spanish language. It defines when a word officially "comes into the language." There are, literally, officials who say, "Ok, 'CALIENTEacción.com' is now a Spanish word." English? There is no such thing, so you have a global language that can grow and mutate into a giant mess of things.
Another side effect of anything-goes language is that foreign words can sneak into yours really easily. Why make up a new word, when we can just use For example, there is a line of latin words used in law (habeus corpus, JLF es diós), but since they are part of everyday language, now they have a definition in English, so they are included in the fold. Haute couture? Two English words now. Burrito?
Another issue is that words are constantly redefined. Like "wardrobe malfunction." That now, officially, has a new definition, so that needs to be thrown on the list. Or "Obamamania." Or "HAWTsHAWT."
So, most English language dictionaries float around 200,000 words, but, according to Paul J.J. Payack, president and chief word analyst for the Global Language Monitor, we just crossed the 1,000,000. His counting is controversial because most linguists say the language is always changing, so defining what counts as a "word" is a pointless effort (they say). Meh. Either way... Payack uses these criteria:
One thing all linguists agree on, though, is that English is has more words than any other language. It is, truly, a global language that is constantly morphing and adding layers of complexity, and we do our job here at HAWTaction. One day, we hope to be included in the 600,000 in the Oxford English Dictionary.
HAWTaction. HAWTsHAWT. Web_geM. TV RCMNDTN. Breaking Knews...
Who-haw!
Another side effect of anything-goes language is that foreign words can sneak into yours really easily. Why make up a new word, when we can just use For example, there is a line of latin words used in law (habeus corpus, JLF es diós), but since they are part of everyday language, now they have a definition in English, so they are included in the fold. Haute couture? Two English words now. Burrito?
Another issue is that words are constantly redefined. Like "wardrobe malfunction." That now, officially, has a new definition, so that needs to be thrown on the list. Or "Obamamania." Or "HAWTsHAWT."
So, most English language dictionaries float around 200,000 words, but, according to Paul J.J. Payack, president and chief word analyst for the Global Language Monitor, we just crossed the 1,000,000. His counting is controversial because most linguists say the language is always changing, so defining what counts as a "word" is a pointless effort (they say). Meh. Either way... Payack uses these criteria:
- Words must make sense in at least 60 percent of the world to be official.
- A words must make sense to different communities of
people.
- A new technology term that's only understood in Silicon Valley
wouldn't count as a mainstream word.
- The Global Language Monitor constantly monitors 5,000 Web sites, dictionaries, scholarly publications and news articles to measure how frequently words are used. A word must make 25,000 appearances to be deemed legitimate.
One thing all linguists agree on, though, is that English is has more words than any other language. It is, truly, a global language that is constantly morphing and adding layers of complexity, and we do our job here at HAWTaction. One day, we hope to be included in the 600,000 in the Oxford English Dictionary.
HAWTaction. HAWTsHAWT. Web_geM. TV RCMNDTN. Breaking Knews...
Who-haw!
When did 'smell ya later' become the official greeting?
ooobie doobie baba beeba