English Hits the One-Million-Word Mark

And the milestone word? Web 2.0. The Global Language Monitor, an online agency that tracks English word use, made its official announcement yesterday, and noted that the new addition was “indicative of the age.” You can debate the methodology that they used in determining the million-word threshold (as plenty of commenters on the story I linked to have) but, as someone whose traveling life is totally wrapped up in—and made possible by—the web, I’d certainly agree with that second point.

I also think one of the runners-up is just as telling. “Jai Ho,” a Hindi term for victory popularized by the Oscar-winning song of the same name, didn’t quite make the cut. But in the months since the awards ceremony I’ve seen it pop up everywhere from friends’ Facebook status updates (hey, there’s that Web 2.0 again) to a recent episode of “So You Think You Can Dance.” If that’s not a sign of a shrinking planet, I don’t know what is.

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