Fwd: New Word

[Barnhart]

The notion of "one new word per day" from American English is, in my
humble opinion, a rather interesting if nebulous notion, especially in an
election year.  First of all, what's "new."  Secondly, what constitutes
"adding"?  How many times must it be used and over what period of time
before a neologism is "established"?  I believe Robert Burchfield once
opined that there were 800 new words per year.  I am confident that
"one-a-day" and 800 (or about two per day) are very conservative
guesstimates, when one takes into consideration all the technical fields
from boating to astrophysics.

Regards,
David Barnhart

P.S. For flames use the following address:

barnhart at highlands.com