Talking Their Way Into Our Lexicon

Imagine a world in which “hello” cannot be found in your trusty dictionary.

That was the case before the last turn of the century, when the word made its official debut in 1898’s Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. And that, said John Morse, publisher of the first Merriam-Webster edition of the 21st century--finished, but not yet released--came only after a word war between two great inventors who owned telephone companies: Thomas Edison and Alexander Graham Bell.

In those days, long before teenagers thought of phones as a birthright, the device was used mostly as a tool of business communication. The words used generally by operators--”hullo” and “hullew”--were deemed too informal, Morse said. Edison favored a slight variation: “hello,” while Bell lobbied for the more maritime “ahoy.” Edison won; the operators became known as “hello girls.” The rest is dictionary history.

As the next millennium approaches, what new vocabulary will we find in our Webster’s for the year 2000, about to go to print?

Editors at the 101-year-old publication in Springfield, Mass., say new words, which have often been in limited circulation for years, are included only after experts deem them to be in common use.

In the new edition, Morse said, the Internet will be the single largest source of new language: “Spam,” “browser,” “home page,” “chat room,” “e-mail.” Other technologies contribute, too: “DVD” (digital videodisc), “cell phone,” “high-definition television.” From the world of medicine, not just diseases (chronic fatigue syndrome, mad cow disease), but bureaucracies: managed care, HMO, Medigap.

Pop culture will always be the source of some of the most playful new entries, Morse said. “ ‘Face time’ is one of my favorites,” a synonym for “in person.”

What about “grow the company”? Or the overused Hollywood expression “green light,” as in “approve.” Not yet, Morse said.

“That may not have made it out of your little neck of the woods. However, it is exactly the type of language that will find its way in. A functional shift is what linguists call it: a word that has been used in one part of speech changes to another part of speech.

Many years ago, Morse added, “people objected to the verb contact, as in ‘I’m going to contact you,’ as opposed to ‘I’m going to get in contact with you.’ But there are always people in society [for whom] the changes are very uncomfortable.

“What you’re looking at in the Collegiate Dictionary are the words that the average person might encounter. It’s a glossary of American life.

“I think,” he added, “that you are seeing that with words like ‘acid snow’ and ‘La Nina,’ which previously were the province of experts and specialists, they are now words that all of us might encounter.” Not to mention use.

In the first decade of this century, “airplane,” “blue jeans” and “windshield” first found their way into the language mainstream. In the final decade, the English-speaking world has made common expressions out of such unfortunate behavior as “car jacking” and “ethnic cleansing.” Those of us who are part of the great virtual web of electronic life have transcended our national boundaries to become “netizens.”

Throughout this century, innovations in firearms and food have consistently produced words that find their way into the dictionary. “Machine gun” showed up between 1900 and 1909, “assault rifle” in the final 10 years of the century. While the first edition of the dictionary included “pretzel,” only recently has “latte” migrated from Italian dictionaries into our own.

And what of the slang expression 24/7, as in something that happens round-the-clock seven days a week? It has not yet earned a place in the upcoming volume of the dictionary, Morse said, “but we are watching it.”