this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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you can't quantify it. there are entire languages spoken by one small town. it's a matter of what you deem notable. as op said, dictionaries are reports. not that different from journalists and what they choose to report, sometimes it's worldwide phenomena, sometimes it's something barely consequential that happens in one small town. it's about what they deem noteworthy.
for a dictionary, it's about what's useful for people as a reference. if you think something that's used by 9 people in a town might be useful if people hear it and want to look up in the dictionary then you put it in. there's no law that governs it.
So.
Hypothetically.
If start using “squiggy” to mean “the excited tremors or shaking puppies, kittens and small kids do when they are very excited”….
Is that enough? Or do I need to get my nephew in on it?
You'll probably need to get more people in on it if you want it to be in a dictionary, but "enough" is really just the people you talk to.
Lots of families and friend groups have their own words, usually powered by inside jokes. Sometimes those words get picked up and spread around the neighborhood or even the town, and sometimes they manage to enter popular culture, thus slang is born.
So enough might just be your nephew, or enough might be everyone who's ever posted a dog picture.
On the other hand, you can write and publish your own dictionary.
It's just about how many people buy it.
Even better if a school does,
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for you, it's enough; for a dictionary, that's their decision. dictionary is not a law book. it's not a religious book either. it is not ordained by god. it's just a report of what words the speakers of a language use. which words are included or not are arbitrary and editorial decisions. what do you think makes the "cut" in a small pocket dictionary with 2000 words vs a bigger dictionary with 10,000 words? do you think once you publish the pocket dictionary, 8000 words stop being legit?
If you were a writer on a hit TV show. Yes.
Going commando existed in the 70's but only entered the public lexicon because of Joey.