What makes a word real?

Can we make up a word and make it real? I think so, and I’m strongly agree with the TED video discussion by the professor Anne Curzan. I think that we have the ability to create many things, not just words. Making up words such as “YOLO” = (You Only Live Once), and “LOL” = (Laughing Out Loud) are just some examples of the wide variety that we have. Curzan stated that dictionaries are a great source to look up for a word and that dictionaries are edited by people, and she said, those people are constantly observing us on how he interact with language and how we use it in order for them to be updated. Language is evolving constantly, because if we think about it we don’t speak how people used to speak back in the 40s or 50s, and that is what is happening now a days too! Language is evolving, and new words are born! Not only in our interaction with our friends, movies have a great impact on making new words.

One specific movie that I remember is The Lion King with the word “Hakuna Matata” = (No worries for the rest of your days) and after more than 20 years, people still use it today! It is incredible! they use it as their daily mantra!, they have done tattoos from that word, that now it has a symbol!

Another site that we can check out is urbandictionary.com this is an “informal” dictionary to look up for the new “make up” words that society is using today! You can even search for your name and it will provide a variety of definitions its actually pretty cool check it out! this site proves curzan's theory about word pover "if that word has meaning, that word is real". Anne Curzan "What Makes A Word Real"