"Social notworking" heads for the dictionary

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 12 Jan 2009 at 17:33

Collins has compiled a shortlist of web words to watch in 2009, with the most frequently used set to enter the next edition of its dictionary.

The increasing dominance of social networking sites in our lives is reflected in the list, with a high proportion of the nominated terms born out of our changing online habits.

Leading the pack is the phrase "social notworking", referring to the practice of wasting time on social networks such as Facebook during working hours.

It's joined by the phrase "anti-social networking" which refers to a website that allows users to list people they don't like and don't want to contact.

On a similar theme, Collins is also considering "defriend" for inclusion, which refers to the act of removing someone from a list of friends on a social networking website.

The final entrant is "textism", which is a common word or abbreviation typically used in a text or instant message.

Collins says it intends to monitor these words over the coming year to see which persist and which are forgotten, before making any decisions on which will enter the next edition of its dictionary.