I heard an interesting article on the World Service today about the way that the Internet is causing the democratisation of English. Interestingly enough I have always thought that English is a profoundly undemocratic language, as to be very good at it, you have to be very well educated. This is definitely not the case in other languages! But back to the point: as English is now more or less the working language of the web and everyone is using it, the words that they use or create get passed round the web in much the same way a virus does and take hold just as quickly. This also means that the typical authorities such as the OED and the Webster Dictionary in the States are no longer the gate keepers of what is considered to be an English word or not. Increasingly they are the momentary recorders of what is changing very quickly (check out this link and you will see that the OED at least has recognised that).
What I like about this fact is that it moves English away from being the preserve of a few and into being a working object that changes and morphs as it is needed. Much like a well loved knife in the kitchen which no longer has a straight sharp blade but which is perfect for opening letters with. It's what you need and not what someone else thinks you need. At least that is what my mother tells me, when I try to sharpen her knives.
I remember a friend of mine in London who used predictive texting. Whenever he typed in the letter combination for "cool", it came up with "book". So after a while, his friends and he just used "book" for "cool". Now that is quite "book" isn't it?
Some new words which have supposedly developed are things like roariffic, a griefer and leetspeak.
Here is to the democratisation of English!! Long may it continue.