Lingo Bingo

Merriam-Webster - the US’s oldest dictionary publisher - just added SIX HUNDRED AND NINETY new words and, with many Gen Z favourites like, “rizz” and “simp”. How do new words get added? If a word is important enough to the English language, used by a large enough group of people and consistently incorporated into speech and writing, it has a chance to become ‘official’. 

Here are three reasons why new language being added to the dictionary matters to marketers.

You Better Keep Up

Reflecting language that language that people love using - especially younger people - has never been harder. Sure, every generation changes the language we use, but the nuance with Gen Z is that they are the kings and queens of abbreviation because of how they fast they communicate, IYKWIM.

As our visual language keeps evolving (thanks, AI), expect this trend to continue. According to one estimate, a new word is created every 98 minutes (approximately 14.7 new words per day) and hundreds of words are added to English dictionaries each year.

Chicken or Egg

What we stream is culture just as much as culture is what we stream. Because of the globally immediate nature of the most popular ‘TV’ shows and movies, the words used in those stories quickly become part of the vernacular.

To quote The South China Morning Post: “a side effect of hit streaming shows such as The Bear and films like Boiling Point and The Menu is that more terms associated with the professional kitchen have also been drafted into this edition’s roll-call of definitions.”

Mainstream Sellout

Language becomes part of a cultural signal the moment it’s used by more than one person. But you could argue that it becomes part of pop culture when it is used and understood by different generations and, to a lesser extent, across countries.

And the minute it becomes part of an official dictionary, brands have lost the chance to be in the early stages of the cultural bell curve. A great example is how “girl boss” has just been added; a term that has its origins in 2014 and has already lost relevance.

In conclusion, it pays for marketers to keep up with micro and macro language signals. Using individual words and terms before competitor brands is one of the keys to success, especially on social channels. And when you step back and look at the language shifts in totality, it can give insight into longer term cultural changes.

One aforementioned example is how gastronomy going mainstream. Another is how there are so many stages to a Gen Z romance compared to previous generations (see: “situationship” and “soft-launching”).