nf1271: i'll start off by [0.5] telling you [0.2] about a situation that i was 
in a few years ago [0.9] where [0.4] i [1.1] was interviewed for local radio [0.
5] they [0.6] they asked me to come along to the radio studios in namex [0.5] 
er to talk about words [0.6] and [0.8] er [1.4] when the interviewer started 
asking me questions i realized that what he really wanted to know was [0.5] er 
who decides which words go into a dictionary [1.0] and [0.3] he had an idea 
that there was such a thing as [0.3] the [0.3] dictionary [1.1] and that this 
contained all the correct words in English [0.8] and that [0.3] if a word 
wasn't in the dictionary [0.6] then it wasn't a proper English word and [0.3] 
you couldn't use it proper-, you [0.2] if you used it you were wrong [0.8] er 
[0.5] that's quite a common belief [0.2] in Britain [0.8] er we play i-, in 
Britain we play a lot of er [0.5] games which involve [1.1] checking words in 
dictionaries Scrabble [0.3] do you do you know Scrabble 
ss: yeah 
nf1271: yeah [0.4] i-, it it's quite a common game and it [1.1] to resolve 
arguments [0.2] it's necessary to look [0.2] in a dictionary [0.3] and people 
always say look in [0.2] the [0.3] dictionary [0.6] as if there was only one [0.
9] er [1.5] people 
seem to assume that there's [0.2] someone [0.2] or some group of people [0.9] h-
, who have the responsibility deciding which words are good enough [0.3] to go 
in the dictionary [0.3] and which words [0.2] are not [0.9] er [1.2] well 
that's that's a completely wrong idea [0.2] really isn't it you've only got to 
go [0.2] to a bookshop [0.4] to see [0.4] that there's many more than [0.2] one 
dictionary [0.6] there isn't really any such thing as [0.2] the [0.2] 
dictionary [0.7] is there [0.2] er [0.8] if you go along to the bookshop here 
for instance [0.5] er [5.4] huh [0.7] 
sm1272: look at the screen [0.3] 
sf1273: now [0.2] 
nf1271: oh yes suddenly the screen and the bulb's gone 
nf1271: er this is just a a very [0.4] rough [0.7] summary of the kind of 
dictionaries that we have [0.4] in English [0.5] we have the [0.5] the Oxford 
English Dictionary [0.4] and that's the largest dictionary [0.5] in en-, in the 
English language [0.3] it's in twenty volumes [0.2] with supplements [0.5] er 
you'd think that that's what people would be referring to 
when they say is it in the dictionary [0.2] but of course they're not [0.6] er 
very few people possess a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary [0.2] it's 
really only for linguists and people who [0.4] are [1.0] er [0.7] work [0.4] 
people who work [0.4] with the English language in some way [0.8] er y-, y-, 
you can get it on C-D-ROM [0.2] which is much easier but if you [0.2] all 
twenty volumes take up a lot of spa-, er shelf space and they're very expensive 
[0.5] so that's not usually the dictionary that people refer to when they when 
they play Scrabble for instance [0.6] er [0.4] then we've got the Shorter 
Oxford Dictionary the New Oxford Dictionary of English [0.5] er [1.5] those are 
[0.9] pretty big [0.2] dictionaries i've got a C-D-ROM version of the New 
Oxford Dictionary in English here [0.4] three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand words 
[0.5] er [0.4] by the way we have names for these we call er [0.6] we call the 
Shorter Oxford Dictionary SOD [0.7] [laughter] and the New Oxford Dictionary of 
English NODDY [0.2] [laughter] that's your if you write about 
dictionaries you use these er acronyms but er [0.5] er [0.6] then we've got 
dictionaries for learners of English [0.8] er [0.9] you'll be familiar with 
some of these Oxford Advanced Learners' Dictionary Longman Dictionary of 
Contemporary English Cambridge internitinational Dictionary of English Cobuild 
[0.5] er [1.9] i see people coming into the bookshop and not knowing which 
dictionary to buy [0.4] because in fact the titles don't really tell you do 
they they [0.5] those [0.3] those four [0.3] er [0.3] that are listed there [0.
7] are [0.7] not for native they're not intended for native speakers of English 
they're in-, intended for learners [0.2] but there's nothing in the title to 
tell you that [0.4] and so i see people who are not native speakers of English 
[0.2] hovering around in the bookshop [0.2] not knowing [0.3] which dictionary 
to choose because [0.4] there's no real indication on the cover [0.7] who is [0.
7] who is it who they're intended for [0.5] and then of course we've got [0.3] 
hundreds of thousands of other kinds of dictionaries we've got [0.2] shorter 
versions of those 
dictionaries for learners [0.2] shorter versions of the big dictionaries at the 
top [0.5] and then we've got dictionaries for children and picture dictionaries 
and school dictionaries and visual dictionaries [0.4] study dictionaries [0.3] 
and something [0.5] right at the bottom of the transparency [2.4] [laughter] er 
[laughter] [0.5] right at the bottom of the transparency er [0.4] we've got 
something that we call they're called dictionaries you might have seen them you 
may have [0.3] a dictionary like this [0.3] dictionary of [0.2] engineering 
terms [0.3] something like that [0.4] er [0.3] they're called dictionaries but 
really they're not [0.3] dictionaries [0.2] they're more like encyclopedias 
because a dictionary is concerned with [0.6] er [0.8] the way [1.7] the word is 
used in the language a dictionary is concerned with [0.6] er [0.4] l-, [0.3] 
linguistic aspects of the word like its pronunciation its grammar which words 
it goes with [0.6] and [0.6] these dictionaries of [0.3] medicine and 
engineering and computing computer 
science applied linguistics [0.3] they don't tell you anything about the 
behaviour [0.2] of that word [0.2] or how it's pronounced or [0.4] what the 
grammar is [0.2] they just tell you about [0.2] the concepts [0.4] that the 
words expresses [0.2] so they're really much more like [0.4] encyclopedias or 
little textbooks they're not strictly speaking [0.4] dictionaries [1.2] so [0.
2] that alone should show you should prove to you that [0.3] the radio 
interviewer had completely the wrong idea [0.6] er there isn't a single [0.3] 
dictionary [0.7] there isn't we can't say is it in [0.3] the [0.3] dictionary 
[0.5] there is no such thing as [0.4] the [0.2] dictionary [0.6] er [0.4] you 
know i often hear it said people say is [0.4] oh look in the dictionary i say 
which dictionary [0.3] there are hundreds thousands [0.5] of dictionaries to 
choose from and they're all different they all have different [0.2] selections 
of words in [0.2] and they all give [0.2] different slightly different 
definitions for each of those words so there isn't a single authority on the 
other hand [0.3] er [0.8] the radio interviewer was right he had got sort of 
the right idea [0.5] 
because [0.7] er [0.6] there [1.1] people who [0.2] compile dictionaries [0.2] 
do have to select [0.9] there are [0.2] there really is a group of people [0.3] 
who select [0.3] which words [0.2] go into each dictionary [0.4] and which 
words [0.2] don't go in [1.8] er [0.7] and the reason [0.5] for this is that 
there are actually [0.3] far far too many words [0.3] in English [0.3] to put 
into [0.3] any dictionary [0.2] even a really big one [0.8] so [0.4] they've 
got to make a selection they've got to decide [0.2] which words go in [0.3] and 
which words stay out [1.1] er [0.2] i think it was last year i was looking on 
an Internet mailing list [0.4] er you know they have these [0.4] er [0.7] chats 
[0.6] and somebody had written in and said i i'm having an argument with my 
German girlfriend [0.6] think he was American [0.2] he said [0.4] er i say 
there are more words in the English language [0.2] and my girlfriend says there 
are more words in the German language [0.3] which of us is right [0.6] right 
[laughter] well it's impossible question really isn't it but [0.3] er somebody 
else wrote in to the mailing list and said [0.3] i know how you can solve that 
problem [0.4] just get an English 
dictionary [0.2] and get a German dictionary [laughter] [0.4] look how many 
words are in each [laugh] [0.3] and you will know [0.2] which language has more 
words [0.5] er complete er i mean i i should have replied to that but [0.4] it 
just [0.5] i was amazed because it just seemed such a silly idea [0.3] 
[laughter] because they could have taken a a little dictionary and a big 
dictionary and [0.4] er [0.6] er [0.3] and anyway [1.5] the the [0.2] one of 
the main problems is that [0.8] er [0.7] which dictionary [0.2] would you [0.4] 
would you choose [0.7] to [0.3] to resolve that question [0.8] er [0.6] the 
Oxford English Dictionary up there [0.8] er [0.3] contains [0.2] English words 
that have been in use since [0.3] eleven-hundred [1.4] and it's [0.3] just 
under half-a-million [0.6] half-a-million words in the [0.2] largest English 
dictionary the Oxford English Dictionary [1.1] er another very big one American 
one Webster's Third internation-, New International [0.5] that collects words f-
, [0.2] er since seventeen-fifty-five [0.4] and that's got four-hundred-and-
fifty-thousand [0.3] words [1.3] but [1.2] there are far far more than half-a-
million words [0.5] in English [1.1] anyone [0.8] ever 
heard any figure quoted for how many words there are in English [3.3] it it [0.
2] it's frequently said four-million [1.2] but [1.0] er [0.2] that can't be 
true really [0.2] because there are six-million [0.6] registered [0.2] chemical 
compounds [1.0] suppose that's true for every language [0.6] all you know 
there'll be [0.2] if there are six-million registered chemical compounds in 
English there will be [0.3] for every language for everyone speaking here [0.5] 
er [0.8] and there are about two-hundred-thousand [0.8] medical terms [2.1] so 
[0.2] you couldn't possibly fit all of those in a single dictionary [0.3] could 
you [0.6] and [0.7] there's another point as well [0.3] new words are coming 
into the language every day [0.4] so you'd have to keep changing the dictionary 
every day [0.2] you'd have to keep adding to it [0.4] every day [1.0] er [0.4] 
so there must be someone who dec-, makes decisions about what goes in [0.3] 
what goes out 
nf1271: right so what i'm going to be talking about is [0.4] er [0.4] new words 
and old words [0.8] new words coming into the language old words dying out [1.
1] er [2.4] course [0.6] the number of [0.7] i can't use er have to shout 
because er [0.8] 
i'm waving the microphone can you hear me [0.3] 
ss: yes 
ss: no [0.2] 
nf1271: er [0.5] the number of people speaking English has increased enormously 
in a hu-, [0.2] last hundred years [0.5] there were [0.2] apparently [0.7] a 
hundred-and-forty-million native speakers of English at the beginning of [0.3] 
last century [0.7] and four-hundred-million [0.2] native speakers at the end of 
last century i don't know how [0.3] that happened [0.5] er [0.3] and there were 
also [0.3] a hun-, an extra hundred-million who spoke English as a second 
language [1.8] er [2.2] there's such a thing as the [0.2] Oxford World Reading 
[0.3] Programme [3.5] that's used for Oxford English dictionaries [1.0] and [1.
7] they have sixty [0.6] readers around the world whose job it is to [0.2] pick 
up instances of new words and phrases every time they see them [0.8] and they 
claim [0.7] that there's an average of eighteen-thousand examples of new words 
[0.3] and turns of phrase each month [2.0] terrific amounts [1.1] er [0.5] each 
year [2.2] about nine-hundred of these are considered important enough [0.2] to 
put in the Oxford English Dictionary [0.3] neologisms are [0.7] new words [1.6] 
er [5.2] and this century [2.0] there've been 
about [0.2] ninety-thousand new words [0.2] recorded so in the last a hundred 
years [0.5] ninety-thousand new words have been recorded for English [0.4] 
that's apparently is about [0.5] twenty-five [0.9] per cent there's been an 
increase [0.6] of twenty-five per cent [0.3] in the vocabulary of eng-, [0.2] 
of English [0.3] since nineteen-hundred [1.2] it's not very good news for any 
of us is it [0.3] [laughter] if we're if we're learning English [laughter] [0.
2] it's a rather frightening thought that er [0.4] even if you just learn the 
new words there'd be ninety extra to learn [0.5] er [1.1] if you just look at 
[0.3] any newspaper [1.4] you'll see that this is true in fact you'll [0.3] if 
you if you look at any newspaper [0.2] any day of the week [0.4] you will find 
[0.3] words that aren't [0.3] yet in a dictionary perhaps they'll never get 
into a dictionary [0.2] i just tested this out yesterday i i had a look at Time 
magazine for this week [0.5] and er the Independent [0.8] and i i've got some 
some examples here [0.4] er [0.5] i i read [0.3] the past year's [0.3] tech-led 
[0.3] decline [0.4] tech [0.3] T-E-C-H- [0.3] hyphen- [0.2] L-E-D tech-led [0.
2] decline [0.2] now i'm prepared 
to bet that tech-led [0.3] isn't in any dictionary [0.8] er [0.3] and another 
one [0.3] weblogs or blogs [0.7] the daily personal diaries that many write on 
their web pages [0.5] so a a diary on [0.2] on your web page is c-, [0.2] is 
now called a blog [0.7] [laugh] [0.3] whether that will ever make its way into 
a dictionary [0.3] i don't know [0.4] but it's [0.6] maybe this is the first 
time it's ever appeared in print the word [0.3] in Time magazine as talking [0.
8] and again i have from the Independent [0.4] like-for-like sales were up [0.
2] seven per cent [0.2] like-for-like with hyphens like [0.2] hyphen for hyphen 
like [0.8] new words [0.8] er and er [0.6] a lone package rated above junk 
status [0.2] junk status [1.0] these these are words [0.4] that [2.0] are not 
officially recognized [0.8] in any dictionary yet [0.4] but they're appearing 
all the time in every time you open a newspaper [0.2] in conversation [0.2] new 
words occurring all the time [0.3] why [1.1] er [0.3] why do we keep on [0.3] 
adding new words to English [0.3] when we've got four-million or [0.4] ten-
million or however many already [0.7] it it would im-, [0.4] seems a bit odd 
doesn't it that [0.4] the 
language should be growing to such an extent [0.9] but [0.7] in fact [0.8] 
we've got to [0.2] add new words [1.3] because new things are happening all the 
time 
nf1271: this er [0.2] this [0.5] table [0.3] shows how [0.5] er [0.3] new [0.5] 
different types of new words [0.3] came into the language in the last a hundred 
years [0.3] so [0.4] er [0.4] the first column is the most frequent [0.2] the 
[0.2] the [0.6] the greatest area of lexical growth [0.5] and this one is the 
[0.7] smallest area of lexical growth [0.3] but they're all [0.4] areas in 
which new words [0.4] were came into the language [0.2] so in the early 
nineteen-hundreds [1.3] there weren't any words for cars things connected with 
cars [0.2] so there was a massive rise in [0.3] the number of words in English 
[0.5] that were connected with cars [0.8] and also aeroplanes of course because 
[0.4] they were [0.2] er they hadn't been in existence before [0.5] you'll 
notice that in [0.2] at this time [0.5] don't know if anyone's a French speaker 
here [1.1] French speakers [0.3] well [0.2] a lot of English words [0.3] are 
about aeroplanes are of French origin [0.5] and that's because the French 
were very very good [0.3] at er [0.2] aviation and er the science of developing 
aeroplanes [0.2] and so we borrowed [0.3] our words [0.3] for aviation from the 
French [1.1] er [0.4] nineteen-twenties [0.3] lots of er [0.7] dance music and 
er [0.4] the [1.0] the [0.3] what were they called the er roaring twenties they 
were known as when [0.3] everyone went out and had a lot of fun between the 
wars [0.8] nineteen-thirties and forties [1.6] war [0.3] [laugh] [0.4] lots of 
words connected with war came in [0.5] here [0.2] obviously the thirties and 
forties [0.2] also for the first time nuclear power [0.2] and for the very 
first time [0.5] computers and space [0.3] new words for computers and [0.2] 
space travel started coming into the language [1.2] er [2.2] can you guess [0.
2] looking at this [0.2] can you guess [0.5] what about the sixties and the 
seventies [0.8] what kind of words were coming into the language in the sixties 
and the seventies [0.3] 
sf1274: computers [0.3] 
sm1275: computers [2.4] 
nf1271: computers [0.5] er [0.3] yes absolutely right computers [0.4] was the 
commonest [0.2] any anything else [0.5] 
sf1276: youth 
nf1271: mm [0.7] 
sf1277: hippies [0.4] 
nf1271: yes that kind of thing [0.3] youth [0.4] er 
music [0.7] we think of the sixties as being particularly a time of hippies and 
[cough] [0.6] pop music and things 
sm1278: [0.2] 
nf1271: mm [0.3] 
sm1278: drugs [0.4] 
nf1271: drugs yeah [0.2] actually [laughter] [0.6] yeah you're you're you're 
absolutely right here we got [0.4] er [0.4] drugs started coming in then [0.2] 
er [0.6] don't know actually drugs in the end computers were the main [0.4] 
growth [0.8] er [0.2] sixties were youth culture and music [1.0] and the first 
for the first time [0.2] we've got [0.2] this which well i'll talk about [0.2] 
in a few minutes [0.6] the idea that you have to have special words for special 
groups of people so as not to offend them [1.2] er [1.3] and then the eighties 
eighties are characterized in Britain at least by a lot of concern with [0.3] 
money [0.8] [laughter] people were very interested in money in the eighties and 
making a lot of it [0.5] er and also the environment for the first time we 
started [0.4] words like er the greenhouse effect [0.2] actually had [0.3] had 
[0.3] existed since about the nineteen-thirties [0.3] but [0.2] people [0.2] 
hadn't [0.2] n-, ordinary people [0.3] who were not scientists [0.3] they had 
never heard 
these terms [0.3] until the eighties and then [0.6] they became [0.3] popular 
[1.5] and t-, [0.3] in the nineteen-nineties can you think of one area where 
there's been a huge growth in the nineteen-nineties 
sf1279: Internet 
sm1280: 
nf1271: absolutely [0.3] yes [0.3] er 
sm1280: [0.4] 
nf1271: it's actually third but [0.4] to us it seems to be a very very [0.2] 
important area of growth 
nf1271: we need new words to [5.9] to talk about new things that didn't exist 
before cars and [0.3] planes and the Internet [0.8] er we also need new words 
[1.3] as [0.4] a quicker [0.3] and more convenient way of saying something [1.
6] we live in a world where [0.4] er [1.4] everything seems to be moving faster 
and faster [0.6] and there are er things that we can do [0.6] to [0.5] make our 
[0.7] speech [1.6] more succinct [0.6] er one [0.2] one thing that we've been 
doing a lot in the twentieth or we did in the twentieth century [0.2] was to 
add [0.2] lie-, er wise [0.3] have you come across this [0.4] where you say [0.
2] instead of [0.5] with regard to or as far as something is concerned [0.3] 
you [0.4] make it the the 
sentence much shorter by saying er [0.6] er [0.4] oh i'm all prepared 
lessonwise [0.3] or [0.3] er i know what to do exam [0.2] wise [0.3] it's it's 
informal it's not considered correct English [0.2] but it's much quicker than 
saying [0.2] as far as exams are concerned [0.4] er [0.7] another [0.2] similar 
one is like [0.4] any German speakers [1.6] no German speakers it's supposed to 
be [0.2] the influence of the German language on American English because of a 
lot of German speakers [0.2] in America and in [0.5] germ-, in [0.3] the German 
language has got [0.3] 
sm1280: [0.2] 
nf1271: there is a German speaker [0.4] [laughter] [0.7] er [1.0] [laughter] [1.
0] good are you a German speaker [0.6] [laughter] like to comment on that [0.7] 
sm1280: 
nf1271: is do you [0.3] concur [0.2] yes what i'm saying is correct [laughter] 
[1.0] you can ask him for more details afterwards [0.5] er [1.8] another [0.9] 
another reason we new [0.2] we need new words [0.2] is because the old words 
have become offensive this happens all the time [0.5] you have a word [0.4] it 
[0.3] seems a bit rude so you have another one [0.2] and then that seems a bit 
rude so you have another one [0.2] a a typical [0.3] er example of this is [0.
2] the word for 
toilet or lavatory we keep changing it all the time because each time we think 
of a new word [0.2] then everyone's offended by that as well so [0.3] so in 
America they've got to this ridiculous situation [0.2] what do they call it in 
America [0.2] 
ss: restroom [laughter] 
nf1271: restroom we think that seems a bit silly because [0.3] it's nothing to 
do [laughter] [0.4] with any rest at all [0.4] but er [0.5] [laugh] [0.7] er [0.
3] but they're trying very hard i'm sure they'll have to think of another term 
soon because people will be embarrassed to say res-, restroom [0.8] and er [0.
7] er going [0.9] we'll talk about political correctness again in a moment but 
[0.3] er [0.7] at one time [0.7] people could be described as fat [0.9] but 
that is considered offensive [0.3] now so [0.5] peop-, [0.5] you use words like 
er [0.6] well chunky [0.4] [laughter] [0.3] and er [0.5] have you heard of [0.
4] er it's a bit of a joke but things like horizontally challenged [1.2] 
[laughter] or circumferentially [0.2] challenged [laughter] [0.6] er [0.4] ways 
to get round saying that somebody is fat [1.4] er [0.6] and we also [0.9] use 
[0.6] new add new words [1.4] to create little groups of people [0.5] and 
reinforce their membership so they feel 
they belong [1.1] have have any of you heard of Cockney rhyming slang [1.0] 
have you come across that [1.6] it's a slang [0.5] it's slang that's used [0.2] 
have you heard Cockney you know the word Cockney it means people living in 
London [0.3] well in a cert-, in a [0.2] right in the centre of London [0.6] 
and [0.3] there's a kind of slang that is used [0.2] by Londoners [0.4] where 
instead of saying [1.1] the word they say another word with [0.2] which rhymes 
[0.8] with it [0.8] so a telephone [0.4] is a dog and bone [2.0] er [1.2] 
there's lots and lots of examples of this [0.4] er [0.9] and [1.0] some of them 
[0.4] are used by lots of people all around er [0.2] Britain [0.2] and some of 
them [0.2] really are only used in London [0.3] but the original idea 
apparently was to keep [0.2] outsiders out apparently or-, it originated with 
thieves [0.2] who wanted to talk about all their plans for stealing things [0.
3] without other people understanding what they were saying [laughter] [0.3] er 
[0.9] but also teenagers have slang words don't they teenage slang words like 
sad [0.5] and wicked [0.4] don't know if you [0.2] come across [0.8] words like 
that [0.5] 
er 
nf1271: do you know do you know have you come across er [2.2] the word sad [1.
1] in slang [0.2] meaning [1.8] no [0.5] er it used we all know what the pr-, 
[0.2] the [1.1] dictionary meaning is [0.3] er [0.2] which is [0.4] not this [0.
6] not this these are [0.5] this keeps changing [0.6] er [0.3] for this one [1.
0] mournful not not happy [0.4] basically [0.3] yeah [0.3] but [0.3] i-, it's 
used a great deal now in [0.4] by teenagers at least [0.4] to mean [0.5] to 
refer to someone who's a social failure [1.0] so or [1.3] someth-, somebody 
who's not [0.4] er [0.4] a great social success basically [1.2] so he's really 
sad [0.2] just er [0.5] just stays at home and listens to classical music or 
something [laughter] [0.3] er [0.2] and [0.5] that [0.3] that meaning has 
evolved [0.4] amongst teenagers [0.2] er [0.2] because it makes them feel that 
they all understand each other and they're all part of the same group and [0.2] 
other people are excluded from that group [3.0] so you'll notice from this [0.
3] that er [1.6] when we say new words [0.6] we are not usually talking about 
completely [0.5] new words [0.3] we're talking about new meanings [0.3] for old 
words 
nf1271: so [0.9] when we talk about new words how do we form them [0.7] we can 
[0.2] put [0.4] words like 
sad [0.4] to a new [0.3] to a new use so it used to mean [0.3] unhappy [0.3] 
now it means [0.3] not very socially [0.4] er [0.8] well integrated [0.8] it's 
very difficult to measure this isn't it because [0.2] how can you tell when a 
word is changing its meaning [0.4] they change perhaps their meanings just 
slightly is it a new word or is it just [0.2] a slightly different 
interpretation of an old word so [0.3] that's the most difficult one [0.3] to 
measure [2.3] the most [0.9] common [0.3] way [0.2] of creating new words in 
English [0.3] is to combine [0.2] existing words [0.4] er [0.2] or word parts 
[0.5] right [0.8] this they say that [0.4] three-quarters of all the new 
vocabulary in English [0.4] certainly a [0.6] big majority all the new [0.3] 
words in English [0.3] are [0.5] constructed [0.2] in this way they're 
combinations [0.5] so [0.3] some of the examples that i [0.4] gave out er [2.6] 
a few minutes ago like like-for-like [0.8] and tech-led [0.5] right [0.3] are 
[0.2] combinations of [0.4] word part [0.3] the World Wide Web [1.7] er [1.2] 
you can [0.4] there's also such a thing [0.5] as a blend [1.0] where [0.2] you 
take [0.6] er [1.5] you take [1.9] parts of words and [0.3] concertina them 
together [0.3] so that they're not [0.2] just two bits of [0.3] like tech- [0.
2] led or World Wide Web [0.3] but 
they're squashed together so that you can't really work out what they [0.4] 
what the parts were [0.5] a famous example of this that's often used is [0.2] 
motel what's motel 
nf1271: it's a very [0.7] it's a very very common [0.3] way of creating [0.8] 
new words [1.2] nowadays motel is [0.6] 
ss: motor hotel 
nf1271: motor hotel [0.6] er [0.4] i'll try some more on you [0.7] er [0.3] 
this one [0.5] was very common a few years back but it doesn't seem to be used 
so much now [0.3] do you know what it is [0.4] 
sf1281: channel tunnel [1.1] 
nf1271: yes the channel tunnel [0.2] 
ss: oh 
nf1271: [laughter] [2.0] these ones are very common at the moment you'll he-, 
you'll you'll certainly come across these [1.6] do you know this one [2.7] it's 
a new idea [2.2] it's a sort of combination of information [0.2] and 
entertainment a lot of [0.2] a lot of the stuff on the Internet [0.2] is what 
you call [0.2] infotainment [0.3] you learn a bit but you're enjoying yourself 
at the same time [0.9] a new concept [0.9] and er [1.6] how about this one [1.
6] again [1.2] a new idea really [2.8] you know 
that one [3.8] it's a mixture between a documentary and a soap opera [laughter] 
er i don't know if this relates in some ways to what [0.5] namex's talking 
about on his talk er [0.4] 
om1282: no [0.7] 
nf1271: [laughter] no not at all [0.4] er [0.3] the the idea that you can [0.2] 
is a documentary is supposed to be telling [0.4] a true [0.3] account of er [0.
9] you know some information [0.2] and a soap opera is a dramatization [0.3] 
but sometimes nowadays on television you can't really tell [0.7] you know it's 
a sort of mixture between the two because they're slightly [0.8] setting up 
situations so that they're more entertaining and they're more emotional [0.3] 
than maybe everyday life [0.3] would be [1.0] er [1.0] any anyone know any more 
blends [1.3] it's a very very common way of forming words in English at the 
moment [2.0] a famous one that dates to the nineteenth century is [0.2] brunch 
you all know brunch [0.7] brunch breakfast and lunch [0.9] but i'm sure if you 
look out you'll see [0.4] you'll see plenty more [1.8] 
nf1271: so [1.0] that's a [0.2] that's a [0.2] a method of combining [3.0] er 
[1.2] another way of forming new words is to shorten them [1.2] you can knock 
off the end [0.2] so we [0.2] we talk about porn [0.2] rather than pornography 
[0.9] er [0.3] these days [1.1] you can do something called [0.2] in-, [0.2] an 
initialism [1.3] and that is [0.8] when you take the letters [0.7] er [0.2] and 
pronounce [0.2] the initial letters of each of the word er each of the words 
separately [0.8] er [0.6] common examples today you'll th-, come across a lot 
are [0.3] B-S-E [1.0] yeah you've all heard of B-S-E [0.2] 
sf1283: [0.9] 
nf1271: it's mad cow disease [0.2] you've all heard of mad cow disease 
ss: oh [0.2] 
nf1271: yeah [0.2] it's [0.4] it's i i forgot it's [0.3] bovine spongiform [0.
2] encephalitis [0.4] is the correct [0.4] full name [0.2] but we call it B-S-E 
[0.5] er one that's very topical [0.3] F-M-D [0.7] do you know what F-M-D is [0.
7] you'll see it in the newspapers [0.8] foot and mouth disease that's right [0.
4] er [0.5] i'm never sure [1.7] i'm never sure whether [0.4] how to pronounce 
[0.2] this one [5.2] have you come across this 
ss: 
nf1271: yes how do you pronounce it though [0.9] [laughter] do you say it's A F-
A-Qs [0.5] 
sm1284: i think you do 
nf1271: you say it's A F-O-A-Qs yeah [0.2] frequently asked questions [0.4] we 
say [0.2] F-A [0.3] have you come across F-A-Qs [0.9] no [0.4] [laugh] [0.3] er 
[0.4] you you probably will [0.6] 
during the next year you'll probably come across F-A-Qs [0.4] er frequently 
asked questions [0.4] a list of questions and answers that people often ask [0.
3] sa-, to save people the trouble of as-, [0.2] answering [0.9] questions over 
and over again [0.2] they put them the put the er er answers to the frequently 
asked questions down all at once [0.4] er [0.3] it's an initialism [1.8] the 
other way to do it would be [0.2] to make it into an acronym [0.5] and call it 
a FAQ [0.9] i don't know if anyone's done that yet [0.5] in English we have 
initialisms like [0.2] F-A-Q F-M-D B-S-E [0.4] and we have [0.3] acronyms [0.4] 
like [0.4] er AIDS [0.7] yeah [0.8] and NATO [1.4] yeah [0.4] i don't [0.2] 
really know why [0.2] some words in English are pronounced as initialisms [0.4] 
and some are pronounced as acronyms [1.3] perhaps it's just how easy it is to 
pronounce the word [0.6] i know in some languages [0.4] they always pronounce 
the [0.2] new words as acronyms they don't pronounce them as initialisms am i 
right [0.6] some languages tend to use more acronyms [0.6] but English uses 
quite a lot of initialisms [0.9] so sometimes if you're thinking of a 
translation for a word [0.9] er [0.2] in your language [0.6] you'll find that 
in English you have to pronounce each letter [0.6] individually have you come 
across that [0.7] has anyone come across that [1.4] not sure [0.2] think think 
about it [0.4] er [4.2] the interesting this is that there were virtually no 
acronyms [0.3] a hundred years ago [1.9] there w-, there weren't any [0.9] if 
you look at the language [0.6] as it was written in nineteen-hundred [1.0] 
there were no acronyms [1.1] and the reason for this of course is all the [0.3] 
medical developments and all the organizations and entities that have [0.4] 
grown up [0.2] in the last a hundred years [0.5] and [1.5] with such long names 
[0.3] that people couldn't keep on [0.2] saying the long name [0.2] and 
therefore they had to find a way of shortening it [1.3] and i expect that's 
true [0.2] in everyone's languages here everyone's [0.3] everyone's had the 
same experience 
nf1271: another way [0.2] of forming new words [0.3] is to borrow them [1.0] 
from other languages [1.3] and we do that [1.4] quite a lot [0.2] about five 
per cent of all the new words [0.5] in English that have [0.2] come into 
English 
this century [0.5] are borrowed [0.3] from other languages [1.3] er [0.7] is 
there any particular area where you think that English [0.3] borrows a lot [0.
7] 
sm1285: food [0.4] 
nf1271: food yes that's right [0.9] food's the main one isn't it every time you 
go to a menu er [0.2] look at a menu in a restaurant in Britain [0.5] all the 
words are foreign [0.6] [laughter] i wonder why that is [laughter] [0.5] er [0.
7] we've [0.4] especially [0.2] in the last hundred years we've [0.5] er 
discovered that other countries have better food than we have [0.8] [laughter] 
er [0.5] [laughter] [0.2] and we've borrowed [0.4] tried to borrow the food 
we've certainly borrowed the words i don't know how successfully we've managed 
to borrow the food but [0.3] we've we've we got the words all right [0.6] er [1.
7] other areas [0.2] er [1.0] 
sm1286: animals [0.3] 
nf1271: animals yes i suppose that's so but i don't know [0.7] have there been 
many new [0.3] new animals discovered recently [0.2] [laughter] in the last 
hundred years or so [0.4] [laughter] [0.4] maybe [0.4] [laughter] [0.4] 
sm1286: for example orang-utan [0.2] 
nf1271: yes orang-utan is [0.2] 
er from 
sm1286: from Indonesia 
nf1271: from Indonesia yes yeah so that's certainly i don't know when orang-
utan was borrowed into English [0.3] but that's certainly [0.2] certainly in 
the last hundred years i'd say yeah [0.7] yeah [0.7] er [0.4] political [1.4] 
things connected with politics [0.2] borrowed from other [0.2] languages [0.4] 
in the [0.3] Cold War [0.7] s-, [0.2] immediately after the Cold War a lot of 
Russian [0.7] words like glasnost and so on [0.2] and nowadays i suppose things 
like er [0.9] er [1.1] [0.4] fatwa [1.1] have been borrowed [0.2] into English 
[1.3] and the last one [1.2] is [0.8] the last way and [0.3] really a very 
uncommon way [0.4] of [0.2] forming new words in English [0.4] is [0.6] to c-, 
coin them out of nothing [0.2] to make them out of nothing [0.6] that's really 
pretty rare [0.2] in English i don't know about in other [0.5] er languages [0.
4] but [0.2] we [0.3] that's a last resort [0.6] in English [0.4] we only do it 
if we really can't think of a way of [0.6] using bits of old words or borrowing 
somebody else's words [0.6] er [1.0] one very famous example [1.5] is this [1.
5] cover it up like that then you won't be able [0.2] does anyone know what 
that word means [0.2] 
ss: [0.4] 
nf1271: 
you search the Internet a search of the Internet [0.5] oh [0.5] well maybe it's 
got another meaning as well [0.5] 
sm1287: [0.9] 
nf1271: it it is a mathematical term [0.3] yeah it's a mathematical term [1.0] 
that's what it means i personally have never had cause to use it but er [0.5] 
if you're a mathematician [0.2] you may do [0.7] a-, a-, [0.2] apparently the 
story of this word is that [0.2] a a famous mathematician [1.1] can't remember 
his name [0.6] er [0.7] im-, [0.9] wanted a term [1.0] to [0.5] describe this 
number [0.2] there isn't a word in English [0.9] he asked his grandson [1.3] 
and his grandson only happened to be about a year old [0.2] at the time 
[laughter] [0.3] and his grandson said googol [0.3] [laughter] and so that was 
the word that he used that's the story [0.5] i understand is anyone here a 
Tamil [0.2] speaker [0.4] does anyone speak Tamil [1.6] no [0.6] because in 
some languages [0.2] some languages are much richer [0.5] in number words than 
English is [0.2] and i understand in some [0.2] Indian [0.2] languages they've 
got many more words for numbers than we have in English [0.6] but er and i 
don't know [0.2] what they [0.2] call 
googol [0.3] but [0.5] that's the English word [0.3] er [3.4] another one was 
[0.2] is quark [0.8] do you [0.2] you know quark [0.3] 
sm1288: no 
nf1271: it's er [0.4] it's a a group of subatomic particles is what it means [0.
3] and it was originally used as a nonsense word in [0.3] the novels of [0.2] 
do you know the novelist James Joyce an Irish novelist James Joyce [0.8] er [0.
2] and he invented this word it didn't mean anything [0.5] but it was taken by 
[0.2] er physicists [0.3] just [0.2] they've just used it [0.8] to [0.6] for 
their science [0.2] 
nf1271: okay so lots and lots of new words coming in [0.2] to the language all 
the time [1.2] but how many of them will actually last this is the problem for 
people making dictionaries [0.7] even if they did record all the new words [0.
4] then they'd discover that [0.2] a great many of them [0.6] didn't remain in 
the language anyway [0.3] they came [0.2] they lasted a a year [0.7] maybe less 
than that [0.2] then they disappeared again [0.7] and so [0.2] would hardly be 
worth recording them in a dictionary [0.7] er [1.3] so in this period i'm 
afraid i haven't got any more recent figures [0.2] there were three-thousand-
five-hundred-and-sixty-five new words 
recorded [0.3] in [0.2] the Oxford English Dictionary [0.6] fifty-eight per 
cent of them had fallen out of use again [1.1] by nineteen-ninety-three [1.9] 
er so why what happens why do these words [0.2] fall out of use [1.5] er [0.3] 
some of them [0.9] because [0.2] they refer to things that never happened [0.7] 
there was at one time for example proposed [0.4] a a union between Scandinavia 
[0.2] and the U-K [0.6] and it was called Uniscan [0.9] but it never happened 
so we never talk about it any more [1.3] er [2.9] more commonly perhaps [0.4] 
you get [1.7] new [0.2] a [0.2] a new thing [0.2] a new [0.3] idea or [0.3] 
something [0.2] arising [0.6] and [0.3] people in different [0.5] parts of the 
English speaking world [0.6] think [0.2] of different names for it [0.3] so 
you've got several names [0.2] for the same [0.8] thing [1.0] and [0.4] they're 
in competition [0.8] and eventually [0.3] one word becomes the common word for 
that thing [0.6] can you guess [1.5] what these are for instance [0.4] these 
are [0.2] words that [0.2] were originally used for [1.4] yeah [1.7] can anyone 
guess [0.8] either of them [3.6] 
sm1289: breathalyser [0.3] 
nf1271: yeah that's right yes intoximeter was another name for a breathalyser 
you know [0.3] [blow] when you have to blow if 
you're driving and you've had something to drink and the police stop you and [0.
2] ask you to blow [0.2] so they can tell how much alcohol [0.2] you've drunk 
[0.9] nowadays it's called a breathalyser [0.3] when it was first invented [0.
2] some people called it an intoximeter [0.3] some people called it a 
breathalyser [0.3] breathalyser [0.2] won [0.6] what about this one [3.4] any 
ideas [1.7] it's genetic engineering [1.2] don't know why genetic engineering 
[0.3] won [0.2] and algeny [0.2] lost [0.2] but [0.9] er i [0.3] i had [0.2] a 
colleague who's now retired [0.3] worked here at this university [0.4] er [0.3] 
with a group of biologists [0.3] who were working on [0.3] some [0.4] trying to 
identify [0.3] some [0.3] er [0.7] microscopic organisms [0.4] some bacteria [0.
7] and they were working with a group in California [1.1] and [1.4] each time 
they discovered a new bacteria [0.5] the group in Britain [1.3] gave a name [0.
2] to the new bacteria [0.7] and the group in California [0.8] gave a name [0.
4] to the bacteria [0.5] so there were two different names [0.2] for the same 
[0.2] bacteria [0.8] and [0.3] the w-, the group at namex [0.2] called their 
bacteria with long [0.2] Greek and Latin names [0.5] and [0.2] the group in 
California called their 
bacteria [0.3] with names like [0.3] Big Black Bug [0.2] [laughter] and the end 
of the story is [0.2] that the two groups met up [0.8] and all the biologists 
who were working on the project in namex [0.3] moved to California [laughter] 
[0.2] so [laugh] [0.3] that's what happens [laughter] [0.5] [laugh] [0.4] er [0.
5] and just [0.2] a last point [1.0] er [0.2] this goes back to this notion of 
political [0.2] correctness [0.2] there've been a lot of changes [0.6] er [0.4] 
in [0.8] the way that we call people as a result of not wishing to offend [0.2] 
minority groups [0.6] what do you call [0.2] the lady who serves you on the 
aeroplane [1.2] 
ss: 
nf1271: hostess stewardess flight attendant [0.5] which is more [0.5] 
politically correct 
ss: 
nf1271: yeah [0.4] er [0.2] it started off [0.2] [laughter] as sky girls [2.1] 
then we've got air stewardess air hostess [0.2] but nowadays that's not 
considered politically correct [0.3] [laughter] [0.2] so [0.3] er it's [0.2] 
flight attendant is the correct [0.2] name [0.2] and just to finish off [0.3] 
here's some more [0.9] politically correct words [0.5] er [0.5] you don't have 
a chairman [0.8] any longer [0.7] 
what is it now we don't talk about chairperson [0.9] er i got told off by [0.9] 
the [0.2] the head of the school where my daughter went because [0.5] i called 
her a headmistress [0.7] she told me off it's not that now is it it's [1.2] 
headteacher [0.6] you're not supposed to call a w-, a woman [0.9] head [0.3] a 
headmistress [1.4] er [0.3] blind people or people who have difficulty seeing 
[1.1] don't call them blind any more that's too politically incorrect [1.2] 
[laughter] visually challenged [1.7] [laughter] people who are short [0.3] this 
is a bit of a joke really but [0.3] y-, [0.4] short people now [0.4] don't call 
them short [1.4] they're vertically [laughter] challenged [3.8] and there have 
been some words that are suggested but i don't know whether they will ever [0.
3] catch on [1.0] have you heard of this [0.2] i don't know if these [0.3] 
they're not in common use [8.2] see if they catch on [0.2] maybe they'll be the 
new words [0.4] of the future [3.8] very clumsy aren't they [laugh] [1.6] okay 
[8.5] thanks 
nf1271: 
i think everybody ought to have one of those [0.2] myself [0.5] have a look at 
them and decide which one you like best [0.3] this one looks the nicest Longman 
the Longman looks the nicest needs if i mean they're all good [0.7] the 
Longman's perhaps got the most [0.3] er [1.4] attractive layout [0.9] the ca-, 
er the Cambridge International Dictionary of English's got smaller print [0.6] 
but it it er does contain a lot of information but it's [0.7] perhaps not so 
attractive to look at [0.9] er [0.3] you can [1.0] some of these have got [0.2] 
versions online as well [0.9] the Cambridge is a very useful one for online [0.
4] free [0.4] online [0.6] er [0.4] you go to the Cambridge Dictionary [0.4] er 
[0.9] the Cambridge Dictionary website [0.4] you can [0.3] a-, have access to 
this dictionary [0.4] and the [0.4] equivalent American dictionary [0.4] online 
for free [0.3] and i think at the moment at the Longman web if you [0.5] i 
think at the Longman web page at the moment you can access the Longman 
dictionary online as well [1.7] but really [0.4] you should be thinking in 
terms of also [0.2] as a very advanced learners as you are [0.9] where did i 
put it [0.6] er you should be thinking in terms of 
getting [0.4] er a native speaker dictionary as well because [0.3] the 
difference between the learner dictionaries and the [0.4] er native speaker 
dictionaries is the learners' dictionaries [0.3] give lots of [0.2] good 
information [0.4] about [0.6] the grammar [0.3] pronunciation [0.2] and the use 
of words they tell you [0.6] i mean sometimes i use a learner's dictionary er 
[0.2] sometimes really for my own [0.5] purposes when i'm writing [0.4] i don't 
want to use a native speaker dictionary because i want to know [0.7] what the 
collocation i-, you know i want to know can you say [0.4] for example to [0.8] 
er [2.0] [laugh] i'm trying to think of an example [0.2] to er [0.5] to arouse 
interest [0.3] you know i don't i'm i'm not sure i can give you do you say 
arouse interest [0.2] and i'd look [0.3] in [0.9] one of these dictionaries [0.
3] rather than [0.2] a native speaker dictionary because the native speaker 
dictionaries don't give many examples [0.2] of how [0.2] you use they presume 
that you know all about the language except for the particular word that you're 
looking up [0.6] whereas these ones give you lots of examples and they [0.3] 
they show you the kind 
of context in which it would be suitable [0.2] to use the word [0.3] so you 
need this [0.4] but [0.5] of course because they provide all that information 
about context and [0.5] pragmatics that means [0.8] you know whether it's 
polite or whether it's [0.3] er [0.3] only used in technical [0.2] texts and 
they give lots of information like that [0.2] so there isn't enough room left 
to put in a lot of words so typically [0.3] these dictionaries will have about 
fifty-thousand words [0.5] whereas the New Oxford Dictionary of English and 
i've got it on C-D-ROM here [0.2] is three-hundred-and-fifty-thousand words [1.
2] so you've got quantity [0.4] and quality [0.3] but not quality quality [0.2] 
in in the sense of more information about each word [0.6] so really you need 
both er [0.2] i was going to buy the New Oxford Dictionary of English because 
it's very good [0.4] but [0.2] er it costs about thirty pounds [0.4] and so i 
bought the C-D instead and that cost twenty pou-, nineteen-pounds-ninety-nine 
[1.4] er [0.3] these cost about what [0.2] what about [0.2] fifte-, [0.9] 
fifteen pounds something like that 
om1282: 
yeah another question [0.9] 
sf1290: [0.4] English is considered to be one [0.2] to be the world's most [0.
4] richest [0.4] and consummate language [0.8] but 
nf1271: [0.2] can't see who's speaking [0.8] can you put your hand up [0.5] 
[laughter] right okay [laughter] [0.6] 
sf1290: English is considered to be one er to be the world's [0.4] most famous 
[0.2] richest and consummate language [0.4] and the borrowing of word from the 
different languages in perspective of the food names and animals' name [0.4] 
don't you think this would affect the singularity [0.3] uniqueness and richness 
of the English language [0.4] 
nf1271: no it's the opposite really [0.3] it is the opposite isn't it i mean it 
wouldn't have grown [0.4] if it's very flexible [0.3] er [0.4] most European 
countries have got some kind of academy [0.5] which tries to control the 
language [0.3] and [0.2] tells people [0.8] correct and incorrect use [0.9] i 
think [0.5] almost all European countries apart from Britain [0.7] has [0.2] 
some sort of [0.5] er [0.3] established group of people who [0.3] say [0.3] 
this is not [0.3] a French word for example [0.2] and in France this is 
particularly [0.2] active [0.4] in France [0.2] there are actually laws saying 
you can't put English words on your shopfronts [0.6] you can't use [0.3] this 
English word in French [0.3] because it's not a French word you have to use a 
French equivalent [0.5] but Britain has never had that [0.5] br-, er [0.2] when 
the other academies were being developed in the eighteenth century [0.4] er [0.
5] they decided not to have one [0.3] in Britain [0.5] and they just [0.3] let 
it grow [0.4] and [0.2] and that's one of the reasons why there's so many words 
of course i don't think [0.4] no i think [0.3] i thi-, well i think it's great 
don't you [laughter] [0.2] it's great to [0.2] to add new words [1.5] er [0.2] 
it would be very silly to try and translate er [0.2] Indian restaurant curry 
menu into English i think [laughter] [1.2] so no i d-, haven't got any [0.2] 
objections at all i don't think [0.5] i think [0.3] it's in the spirit of the 
English language that it's very flexible always changing [0.2] the grammar is 
always changing too 
nf1271: initialism is when you [0.2] say the [0.2] each [0.2] letter in turn so 
[0.5] er [0.4] B-S-E [1.2] er [0.4] F-M-D [0.4] foot and mouth 
disease [0.5] and [0.2] an acronym is where you [0.5] pronounce it as if it was 
a word so if you said bse [0.2] [laugh] [0.3] instead of B-S-E [0.3] it would 
be an acronym [0.5] that's obviously the reason why we don't do it because you 
can't say it but [0.3] NATO [0.2] is an acronym [0.6] AIDS is an acronym [0.8] 
yeah you see the difference [1.2] in some languages they turn all their 
initialisms into acronyms they don't they don't use initialisms very much [0.8] 
but in English we have a mixture of the two [0.3] depending on whether we can 
pronounce it or not [0.5] foot the FTSE index [1.0] is a is an acronym although 
you wouldn't think you'd be able to pronounce it as [0.5] they changed they've 
changed its er 
sm1291: it will be one of the common classes in the presessional [0.7] we [0.7] 
consult a little about [0.8] er the use of [0.4] hes and hers [0.2] 
nf1271: ah yes 
sm1291: and when when you [0.5] 
nf1271: yes [0.5] 
sm1291: when when you are [0.3] actually [0.6] talking in general terms [0.8] 
and er there is high concern [0.4] about [1.1] which is the [0.6] the correct 
way [0.4] what's your opinion about [0.8] 
nf1271: well there's a there's a n-, a desperate need [0.3] for [0.6] a word [0.
4] that's not he and not she and 
not his we've got two words [0.3] a word that's not he and she and a word 
that's not his and her a neutral pronoun [0.4] but [0.2] although [1.2] the 
lexical words in English are growing all the time and we can change them and 
add to them [0.4] there are there's a subclass of words in English which are 
called grammatical words [0.8] and they [0.2] can't change [0.7] they're those 
very short words pronouns [0.5] prep-, prepositions [0.9] articles [0.8] er [0.
8] that's about it really [0.7] er [1.8] and ix-, auxiliary verbs [0.9] verbs 
like the verb to be [0.3] you can't change them [0.7] the last change we had in 
the pronoun system in English was in Anglo-Saxon times [0.5] when we borrowed 
[0.4] two [1.0] pronouns from [0.4] Scandinavian languages and that was they 
and them [0.7] that was the last time that's about [0.5] er [0.2] over a 
thousand years ago [0.4] and [0.2] we still haven't got used to it [0.3] 
because [0.3] af-, after a thousand years we still haven't adjusted [0.4] 
because you'll hear English people say [0.8] er [0.2] instead of them [1.1] 
what do they say [0.5] in spee-, 
in fast speech [1.4] have you noticed this [0.4] almost all of us [0.3] we 
don't actually say [0.2] them [0.4] in fast speech we say 'em [1.2] give 'em to 
me [0.6] so after a thousand years we still haven't adjusted to that borrowing 
[0.7] [laugh] [0.4] and [0.2] so [0.7] er in America particularly i mean there 
are web sites devoted to suggestions for change [0.3] to a neutral pronoun but 
they won't catch on [0.7] we just can't [0.9] you know we can borrow any number 
of lexical words [0.2] but we don't seem to be able to borrow or to invent [0.
3] any new [0.3] grammatical words in English [0.2] it's it's awful because we 
really need them [0.4] they just don't catch on [0.5] you know [0.6] keep 
suggesting them [0.8] nobody [0.6] nobody will agree no one [0.2] took takes it 
up because it's part of the grammatical system [0.2] of the language and the 
grammar [0.5] the basic grammatical system of the language can't change [2.4] 
om1282: okay thanks very much namex