Word to Your Moms

Last year when the fine folks at Merriam-Webster decided to add "google" to their dictionary, I was thrilled. The word had become so much a part of our daily conversations that English speakers everywhere had given it a life of its own. "Google" is no longer just the proper name it once was; today, it functions as both a noun naming an entity and place within the virtual world we call the Internet, and a transitive verb, complete with its own set of conjugations ("I googled it." "They're googling it right now." "You'll have to google it when you get home."). Google-users everywhere should take pride in the result of their collective efforts. The new addition to the dictionary is our small footprint in the history of this language, a fact that speaks to how well language evolves and adapts and how essential we are in helping that evolutionary process along. And think of all the possibilities that come with this territory: now we can talk about whether or not a word, phrase or name is "googleable" -- assess its "googleability," if you will. And so this boundless language continues to grow.

This year, the editors at Merriam-Webster are considering "smackdown" and "ginormous," among other potential additions. I don't know about you, but I'm holding out for two other candidates on the list: "sudoku" and "Bollywood." Who knows? Pretty soon, they just might join the ranks of "bling" and "biodiesel." And "google," of course.