Web 2.0, sexting, or... a millionth word question!

BANGALORE, INDIA: Be it the 'R-word' or the 'four-letter word', nowadays everything revolves weirdly around the World Wide Web! So when it comes to the selection of the millionth word in English, it is natural for the cyber space and information technology to get its due share in the shortlist in the run up for the rare distinction. While there are three words from the technology front, Internet also has got the same number of words in the shortlist.

The Global Language Monitor, an Internet media analytics company that documents, analyzes, and tracks the latest trends in word usage and word choices and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon global English, has announced that the English language will cross the 1,000,000 word threshold on June 10, 2009 at 10:22 am Stratford-Upon-Avon time. The countdown has already begun on its site.

The monitor has also announced the finalists for the Million Word March.

The words related to technology are Cloud Computing, N00b (from the Gamer Community; a neophyte in playing a particular game; used as a disparaging term) and Sexting (you got it right – it's sending email or text messages with sexual content). And from the Internet lingo three other words are there: De-follow (no longer following the updates of someone on a social networking site), De-friend (no longer following the updates of a friend on a social networking site; much harsher than de-following) and Web 2.0, the next generation of web services.

Then there is this French word le courriel, which means e-Mail. Of course, words like financial tsunami, green washing, carbon neutral, e-vampire etc are also there. An analysis conducted by the Global Language Monitor last year had listed cloud computing, green washing, and buzzword compliant as the most confusing yet frequently cited high tech buzzwords of 2008. These words were followed by resonate, de-duping, and virtualization.

Rounding out the Top Ten were Web 2.0, versioning, word clouds, and petaflop. And you know which the most confusing Acronym for 2008? It was our own SaaS (software as a service)!

Leaving IT behind, when we come to the India perspective, there is something to be really proud of. Like the rags-to-riches story of the hero in Oscar winning Slumdog Millionaire, the word 'Slumdog' has also found a place in the race for the millionth word status, along with 'Jai Ho', of course.

According to the Global Language Monitor's website, it has been tracking English word creation since 2003. Once it identifies new words (or neologisms) it measures their extent and depth of usage with its PQI technology.

Thanks to the global extent of the English language, the Millionth Word is as likely to appear from India, China, or East L.A. as it is to emerge from Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s home town), added the website. And when there is so much hype on India, how can you leave behind a 'Hinglish' word? So you have this one, which is totally feminine – 'Cuddies', which means nothing but ladies' underwear.

So, as the countdown has already started, which word do you think English would tell the millionth Jai Ho to?