You know that word you’ve always thought should be in the dictionary? Well, Collins have introduced an online Living Dictionary, through which users can submit new words and their definitions for possible acceptance into the print version. All submissions are discussed (and frequently argued over) by users - the intention is to select those words on which greatest consensus is reached. Some of the terms currently being debated are fluffle, cromulent, assmosis, humphle, pwned, tairist and chavalanche.

So, does this herald the democratisation of the dictionary via the internet? Dr. Johnson’s famous early dictionary was both deeply opiniated (”EXCISE.n.s. A hateful tax…levied by wretches”) and somewhat patchy (”ETCH.n.s. A country word of which I know not the meaning”). Perhaps, at the other extreme, the unlimited number of contributors made possible by technology will result in a dictionary that truly captures English as it is spoken today? Jeremy Butterfield, the editor-in-chief of Collins Dictionaries, thinks so: “We felt it crucial to reflect language that is really used. One of the key ideas is to get real language-users actively involved in getting words into the dictionary.”

However, it remains to be seen how the project works in practice, and how many of the suggested words actually make it to the print edition. Regardless of the hype, the decision on whether or not to accept a new word ultimately rests with the editors, so in reality the process isn’t any less subjective than previously.