Two other technological advances that have led to the creation of new words are the initialisms of DVD (Digital Versatile Disc, or Digital Video Disc) and MP3 (an MPEG (Moving Pictures Expert Group) file made specifically for the use of sound files. Through an increase in use, and the fact that DVD’s are quickly beginning to replace the older VHS videocassette, and the use of file sharing programs on the Internet increasing the amount music downloaded from the Internet, has increased the use of both DVD and MP3 in the English language. Both words will have a relatively short length of use, but will last as long as the technology keeps going for. In the instance of MP3, it will not be around for a great length of time, and is likely to be replaced, as the predecessor files MP and MP2 have been replaced in the past. In the case of DVD, it is likely to be around for at least another 20 years, as it is relatively new technology. However the media it is on is likely to be phased out over time, such as LP’s have been, and currently cassettes are also dwindling as far as the amount of use they receive are.
With the emergence of a new tennis star in the UK, and his rise to fame through Wimbledon, Tim Henman was an overnight success. With this rise to fame came a huge following for him, especially when it came to the spectacular event of Wimbledon. When it came to describing this fanaticism, a word was created, and that was “Henmania”. This word in itself is blending two words together, “Henman” and “mania”. The word “mania” in itself is not a word used on it’s own. It is the suffix meaning “an intense enthusiasm”. With this the word “Henmanmania” could have been created as a compound word, however, this is a rather awkward form, and with this came a blending of the word, and the “man” part of both “Henman” and “Mania” has become shared by both, and used in a form that is easily recognisable as well as being easy to say. The word Henmania is unlikely to remain a word in the English Language. As Tim Henman gets ever closer to finishing his career in tennis, it is likely that another British player will rise to fame in the field of tennis, and if they prove to be popular, a new word will be created in the English Language to describe the popularity of that particular player. Henmania is likely to be a word that would soon be confined to the past, unless another player with the surname Henman comes along, and with that, there is a good chance that the word “Henmania” could begin to be used again.
The huge publicity that surrounded the creation of the “The Millennium Dome”, also brought in a new word to the English Language. It was constantly covered on the news, and received great publicity. However, the word Millennium was soon dropped from the name of it in mainstream English Language, with many people sometimes finding the word “Millennium” difficult to say. With this, rather than people calling the structure “The Millennium Dome” the whole word “Millennium” was taken out from the word, leaving the structure now being known as simply “The Dome”. As “The Millennium Dome” has gone away from the publics attention and the word has virtually disappeared from use in the English Language already, and apart from when the takeover of “The Dome” is finally completed, there will be little more ever mentioned of it, and “The Millennium Dome” will only be something mentioned in history, where it is most likely that it will be known as “The Millennium Dome” rather than just “The Dome”, due to the fact history would want to remain as accurate as it possibly can, rather than act on the way people were at the time “The Millennium Dome” was actually around.
With the introduction of cars in society, new crime based on cars has come about. This led to the creation of the word “carjacking”. As the amount of car theft has increased, the rather general term of “hijack” has been changed to a far more narrow focus to “carjacking”. The word in the form is specific to cars, and cars only, not like “hijacking”, which still can be applied to cars, is rather vague. Carjacking is likely to remain a word in the English Language for quite a long amount of time. As cars remain the principle mode of transport in the country, which is most likely for the foreseeable future, the crime of “carjacking” is likely to keep it’s part in the English Language for a while yet. However it is likely that it may eventually fall out of use from the English Language, with a replacement maybe used, or as there is so much controversy over the way, and how many cars are used, it is feasible in the not too distant future, the car could be replaced by another mode of transport, leading to car crime becoming non-existent as there would be no crime for people to do in the car area.
The word of “typo” has also recently been introduced into the vocabulary of the English Language. As there has been an ever increasing amount of people using computers, whenever a spelling mistake has been made, it is often considered as a “typing error” due to the fact that the error made, is unlikely to have actually been made, should the writer have been writing whatever has been written by hand. However to say that someone has made a “typing error”, each time a mistake is made is rather awkward. With this, the words “typing” and “error” have been blended together, and this has created a new word in the form of “typo”. This blend of the two words is far more commonly used, especially on the Internet, where speed is often the most important factor over anything else. When it is it’s extended form, from the word “typo”, this extends to being a “typographical error”, which has far too many syllables present in the word to become part of speech, without sounding posh whilst saying the word. It is quite likely that “typo” is a word that will remain a part of the English Language.
Another Internet word that has been created is “emoticon”. The dictionary definition of the word is “A series of keyed characters used especially in e-mail to indicate an emotion, such as pleasure [:-)] or sadness [:-(].”. When the word is separated into the two parts which it is, the words that come out are “emotion” and “icon”. With the keys being used to produce images that become recognisable, such as smiley faces like “☺” and “☹”. These are mainly used to represent the emotion of whoever is writing the text, and the emotion is shown in the form of an icon. The word “emoticon” has been created through the blend method. It is likely to be a word that will remain in the English language for only a relatively short period of time. Most people tend to use the word “smiley” rather than “emoticon” and it is inevitable that the word “smiley” is likely to remain in the English Language for longer than the word “emoticon” does.
The increase in use of computers and the Internet has led to another variant of a word being created. Much like the meaning of the phrase “couch potato”, a word more specific to computers, and in particular the Internet, has the “mouse potato” phrase been coined. This is only a minor change from the word “couch potato” which in its original form was used to describe a person who would sit in front of the television for extended periods of time. Already this phrase has fallen out of use in everyday language – but it is likely that in the future as computers become even more widespread than they currently are, either the word will be re-introduced into the flow of English Language, or a new word will be used that basically describes the same thing as the word “mouse potato” does.
One more word that has only just started being used in the English Language is the word “download”. Brought about through the ever-increasing use of the Internet, the meaning of the word is “To transfer (data or programs) from a server or host computer to one's own computer or device.” The word in the past had already existed, with it’s interpretation merely meaning the same as the word “upload” does, but in a physical sense, rather than the computer software, programs and files that are scattered throughout the Internet.