English language 'approaching 1million words'

By Ross McGuinness

(May 08, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Shakespeare had fewer than 100,000 English words to choose from when writing his plays – but now the language is fast approaching 1million.

The landmark figure will be reached on June 10 at 10.22am, with the millionth word more likely to come from India or China than the Bard's native country, according to 'experts'.

There were just 2million English speakers when Shakespeare wrote Hamlet but now 1.53billion people use the language worldwide. The Texas-based Global Language Monitor has been tracking new English words since 2003.

Once the group identifies one, its depth of usage and its impact on culture is measured. George W Bush even created a handful, the most prominent of which is 'misunderestimate'.

Words that could be approved as the millionth include 'greenwashing' – used by environmentalists to describe groups which mislead the public – and 'noob', which means a new computer game player.

'English is different in that it absorbs words like no other language,' said GLM's chief word analyst Paul Payack.

'But despite having a million words at our disposal it is unlikely we will use more than just a fraction of them.'

-Sri Lanka Guardian