We'll just have to come to terms with TikTok clocking up new words

‘Skibidi’, ‘tradwife’, and 'delulu' are among the gems that have made it into the ‘Cambridge Dictionary’, and many believe it is down to the increasing influence of TikTok, writes Jack While

One thing that rarely changes is the collective gasp at new words added to dictionaries every year which each generation seems to take as a signal that the next generation is trying to kill off the English language for good. File photo

NEXT year will mark the centenary of the publication of H W Fowler’s rock-solid reference book, A Dictionary of Modern English Usage. 

Over that century, thousands of words have been added to our English vocabulary. Some endure while others were shooting stars — bright transient versions of pop music’s one-hit wonders. Others have been lost to the ebb and flow of taste.