A ginormous number of new words make the dictionary

The new rule of the lexicon seems to be that if a term gets used often enough, it earns a spot in the dictionary. Dictionary publishers Merriam-Webster -- a unit of privately held Encyclopaedia Britannica -- are adding about 100 new words to the company's latest edition of its collegiate dictionary. Among the notable new entries:

• Ginormous, a combination of "gigantic" and enormous" that means the same as either.
• Crunk, which Merriam defines as a style of Southern rap music; I always thought it was a combination of "crazy" and "drunk" (e.g., "Let's get crunk 'cause Mary's back..." Mary J. Blige)
• Telenovelas, Latin soap operas
• DVR, the abbreviation for digital video recorders. A bad sign for TiVo Inc. (NASDAQ: TIVO)?
  
• Sudoku, those ubiquitous number puzzles.
• Bollywood, the rather creative name for India's expansive film industry

An MSNBC article reports that the criterion for gaining entry into Merriam-Webster's college dictionary is simple use. "If a word shows up often enough in mainstream writing," the article claims, "the editors consider defining it." Merriam also conducts an Internet poll each year where visitors vote on their favorite word that's not in the dictionary. In 2005, "ginormous" won.

One can only predict what might make the cut next year. A quick trip to the Merriam-Webster site indicates that other popular words not yet in the dictionary include "woot" (an exclamation of joy), "snirt" (dirty snow), and "confuzzled" (a combination of confused and puzzled that I'm quite sure I've never heard ... confuzzling). What about "OTP" (Internet slang among hopeless romantics, meaning "one true pairing")? How about "celebutante," which describes people like Paris Hilton who are famous for their wealth and status. Or iPhone? I did verify that Webster has a proper definition of "subprime."

For the record, none of the above words passed muster on my spell check.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.