newbs, n00bs, and 1,000,000 English words

[wiegie]

'Noob' could be millionth English word

Updated: Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 9:21 AM EDT

Published : Monday, 11 May 2009, 5:14 PM EDT

 

By ANTHONY BARTKEWICZ, special contributor

 

LONDON - The Global Language Monitor tracks the spread of language, particularly English, around the globe. It's currently anticipating the millionth word to become part of the English language, -- at 999,544 on Monday, with an estimated 28 days until the millionth -- and MSN reports that it could turn out to be "noob."

 

Don't know what that is? What a noob.

 

"Noob" (sometimes "n00b") derives from "newbie," and refers -- usually somewhat dismissively -- to a newcomer to an online forum or game. Urban Dictionary contrasted the two spellings : "Newbs are those who are new to some task and are very beginner at it, possibly a little overconfident about it, but they are willing to learn and fix their errors to move out of that stage. n00bs, on the other hand, know little and have no will to learn any more."

 

To be acknowledged as a new word by the Global Language Monitor, a word must be used 25,000 times by media outlets and in public sources like social networking sites.

 

Other words that are in the running to become the millionth English word include "greenwashing" -- an attempt by a company to appear more environmentally friendly than it actually is -- and the social networking terms "defriend" and "defollow."

I'd say that the distinction between newb and n00b is a good one. Perhaps rajn could create a "n00bie of the year" award... on second thought, perhaps he shouldn't.

[AtomicCEO]

I used "friended" this morning and felt weird about it. I verbified a noun, and then made it past tense.

 

Then, I apparently used the work "verbified". It's been odd.