It's not a twittonary. It's a list. 28 January 2010
As someone who already had an issue with words like ‘twestival’, this twittonary was bound to make me grit my teeth. Don’t get me started on words such as ‘tweetsult’ or ‘twittish’. These distortions of language trouble me. But the words are unique to the world of Twitter, so why should I have a problem with them? And shouldn’t language stay flexible? Things like the SarcMark are (sometimes literal) signs that the way we write content and copy is constantly developing. As Paul Gordon commented in a recent post I wrote on new words, technology plays a huge part in changing the way we communicate with each other. But I still hope these references stay within Twitter instead of moving outwards… Whether you’re updating friends or explaining a service to new customers, language needs to include rather than exclude. And as I look through the twittonary (or list), I wonder – how many ‘special’ words does it take for a community to become a clique?
Written by Camilla Zajac
Camilla Zajac is an award-winning copywriter dedicated to uncovering what’s exciting and unique about organisations and empowering them to communicate that with impact. Learn more about copywriting services from Green Light Copywriting.
