We’ve all grown up with new words to learn

AS somebody who claims to be ‘a bit of a wordsmith’, you would think I know it all when it comes to words.

But, as regular readers will appreciate, there are gaps in my knowledge.

Some of those gaps were plugged this week when an online language learning platform sent me a helpful guide explaining ‘what word was first used in your birth year’.

For example, bootylicious was first used in 1994, while selfie clicked in 2002.

Loungewear (a word which has now probably gone out of fashion, so to speak) was first used in 1957 and Detox in 1973. Text message was in 1977, while phone sex was in 1982.

Sexting (something which still leaves me baffled) arrived in 2005, manspreading in 2014 and cancel culture in 2016.

Researchers have used data available from dictionaries to delve into the English language back to the 1950s to discover when words and phrases were first used in print.

New words are often created by a lexiconnoisseur (a person who creates words). But authors and writers (even newspaper folk) can also be credited.

It is something of a surprise to learn that playwright and poet William Shakespeare invented 1,700 words in his lifetime, including lonely, uncomfortable, elbow and hostile.

New words can be created by -

Blending - merging two or more words together e.g. Paralympics

Clippings - shortening existing words e.g. Sci-fi

Compounding - Adding two words together to create a new meaning e.g. spray tan

Affixation - Adding prefixes or suffixes to an existing word e.g. sizeism

Conversion - turning nouns into verbs e.g. adulting

As a child of 1959, I was eager to find out what word or phrase was created in the year of my birth.

But, as this is a family newspaper, I’ll refrain from repeating.

You’ll just have to look it up for yourself!