N - English gets millionth word

Experts predict that the millionth word in the English language will arrive on 29 April 2009. At present there are 995 844 official words, according to the Global Language Monitor in Texas (www.languagemonitor.com). The monitor established a base number of words in English using the generally accepted unabridged dictionaries, such as the Oxford English Dictionary. And a proprietary algorithm calculated a rate of creation of new words found in print, including technical and scientific journals; on television and radio; and on webpages and in blogs. Paul Payack, founding president of the monitor, said that the most literate person uses fewer than 70 000 words.