Learn · TED

Talk17 min

What makes a word "real"?

Anne Curzan · TED

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About

One could argue that slang words like ‘hangry,’ ‘defriend’ and ‘adorkable’ fill crucial meaning gaps in the English language, even if they don't appear in the dictionary. After all, who actually decides which words make it into those pages? Language historian Anne Curzan gives a charming look at the humans behind dictionaries, and the choices they make.

The talk

  1. What makes a word "real"? 17 min · TED's player

Credits and licence

Institution
TED
Department
TEDxUofM
Speaker
Anne Curzan
Year
2014
Level
For everyone
Language
English
Subjects
Languages and linguistics
Source
TED
Licence
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0, as TED states it. Non-commercial use only, and no changed versions. TED's terms
Attribution
TED Talks are licensed by TED under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 International and are shown here in TED's own player, as TED's usage policy asks.
Who can watch
TED gives no rating. Invisible Network shows it to Tweens profiles and older, judged from what the source says about it. How courses are placed