English Facilitator

When does a word exist in English?

More about wanzing in a moment! In my last blog I wrote that the word ‘unclarity’ does not exist in English and someone replied that he had found it in Wiktionary. That word is not in more traditional dictionaries, so when can you say that a word exists in the English language? Some people say that a word exists when listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, others say in the Cambridge dictionary or in Collins; those who favour US English say it exists when it is in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. There is no right answer, because none of these is the definitive authority on the English language – although the Oxford comes close. In fact, we don’t have an authoritative body controlling the English language – unlike Finland where there is the Kielitoimisto. I believe the answer must be ‘we the native speakers own the language’; however, this free ownership has its downsides.

A Google internet search will show results for any strange word (for example ‘wanzing’ – do you know what it means?) and, for a lot of people, it is enough proof that a word exists – after all, if other people are using it, why can’t they use it?! Beware, though, because the word may belong to a certain group of English speakers and it is not known in your community. An example is the verb ‘to prepone’, meaning ‘to advance the time of something’ (for example to prepone the 12 o’clock meeting to 9 o’clock). This verb ‘prepone’ is used in Indian English but not used in other versions of English. You’d probably be able to work out what it means owing to its Latin base, but you may think the decoding is hard work and unnecessary. Why not just say ‘bring forward the time’?

We all need some guidance on meaning and spelling of words so we can communicate effectively with other people, especially in a business context where we want to appear professional (and in Scrabble!). For this reason we use dictionaries to ensure we have some base reference and consistency in the language. Otherwise we would have a language out of control and in the formal world of work we would just end up confusing each other.

What happens when a word is widely used in your area of work, but it does not exist in the mainstream dictionaries? I would argue that as long the people with whom you are communicating understand it, continue to use it! After working for Nokia in Finland for a few years I now accept this word ‘unclarity’, I have heard it so often, even though I don’t like it. Just beware using these words if you are communicating with people outside your specialism – they may like your new word or they may not, in which case they may regard you as quite odd. Good luck with your unclarities!

P.S. ‘wanzing’ noun and adjective. Meaning ‘diminishing or becoming weak; fading, vanishing’.

Added to the Oxford English Dictionary, Autumn 2016