Downturn creates a boom in words for dictionary

Published on Sunday 11 January 2009 21:22

"RECESSIONISTAS" who have been "credit-crunched" might well be taking "stay-cations" this year. Or in other words, people who choose to dress frugally and who have been hit by the economic downturn might be holidaying at home.

According to Collins, these are among the "words to watch" for 2009.

The new words, released on the publication of the latest edition of the Gem dictionary, will be monitored over the coming months to see if they deserve an entry.

Words are judged on where and how often they are used, with text from sources around the world, including books, newspapers and websites, fed into Collins' 2.5-billion-word lexical database.

Collins head of content Cormac McKeown said: "We'll be keeping an eye on these rather gloomy expressions. With a bit of luck most of these will have slipped off the radar this time next year, but my money's on bad bank and staycation to stay the course."

Other words under consideration include:

&#149 Ecotarianism n: the principal or practice of avoiding eating any foods whose production or transportation are considered ecologically damaging.

&#149 Antisocial networking site n informal: a website that allows users to, among other things, list the people they dislike and do not want any contact with.

&#149 Textism n: a word or abbreviation typically used in a text message.

&#149 Mancation n: an all-male group holiday.