"Web 2.0" to Become the Millionth U.S. Word
"Web 2.0" to Become the Millionth U.S. Word
Posted 06/11/2009 at 12:10pm
| by Paul Lilly
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It's official - the Global Language Monitor, which analyzes and tracks trends in language, has dubbed "Web 2.0" as the one millionth word. To qualify, potential words must appear 25,000 times in searches and be widely accepted. Web 2.0 fit that criteria, beating out Jai Ho, Noob, Slumdog, and Cloud Computing (among others) as the millionth English word or phrase.
The list has some linguists up in arms, who dismissed the whole thing as nothing more than a publicity stunt.
"I think it's pure fraud. I'ts not bad science. It's nonsense," Geoffrey Nunberg, a linguistics professor at the University of California at Berkeley, told reporters.
His and other similar opinions didn't seem to phase Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor, who insisted that his method has merit.
"If you want to count the stars in the sky, you have to define what a star is first and then count," Payack said. "Our criteria is quite plain and if you follow those criteria you can count words. Most academics say what we are doing is very valuable."
Word up.
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urdead4g
June 15, 2009 at 8:34am
It's because of stuff like this that American dictionaries are soon going to have no value.
Just a heads up for the WEB 2.0 fans...
mesiah
June 12, 2009 at 8:36pm
Mankind really is starting to head down that slippery slope to total computer domination :D To me this just stinks of "lets write a computer progam that decides what is and is not a word." And low and behold, when HAL told them the latest word to be used 25k times is "web 2.0" all of the zombies said "Its a word because HAL said so. who are we to question the all knowing computer?" I think we are starting to rely a little too much on computers to make our day to day decisions for us. There is even talk now of the recent air france crash being partially caused by the computers control override system, put in place because we don't think pilots are capable of making their own decisions when it comes to what the air frame can withstand. Oh well, my computer is telling me its time to get back to work >.>
Denis63
June 12, 2009 at 5:46am
Reading this article is the first time i've ever heard "Web 2.0"
Noob would of been a better choice, since everyone seems to have heard it at one point or another.
periodhyphenund...
June 11, 2009 at 8:09pm
Web 2.0 has nothing to do with the Internet as we know it!
Web 2.0 is simply a Private Network controlled by Government and Corporate Interests.
It is designed from the ground up to allow censorship of anyone at any time and prevent the public from sharing information in a free and open manner.
Web 2.0 is NOT the Internet!
yogurt80
June 11, 2009 at 5:48pm
Ludacris. It's not like the internet was re-launched. I use n00b myself. I've never uttered "web 2.0." Actually, I doubt I ever will.
Strongbad536
June 11, 2009 at 3:58pm
gordon is gonna have a field day with this... hahaha. i cant wait for the rant.
winmaster
June 16, 2009 at 11:22am
Just don't tell Gordon and he won't have to kill someone.
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The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
teh 1337 haxxor
June 11, 2009 at 3:05pm
web 2.0 is a stupid word. n00b on the other hand is much more widely used and has a legitimate meaning and usage. Whats the difference between the 'web' and the 'web 2.0'??? Absolutely nothing in my opinion.
Also, nice picture source. My local news channel right there...
neo1piv14
June 11, 2009 at 1:23pm
Looks like we need the Dark Knight 2.0 to come beat up the guy in charge of making this a word. Scum, villiany, and pompous, anonymous asshats are taking over our dictionary.
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