Neologisms

English is changing constantly. It is this mutability that makes it so interesting and challenging. It gains thousands of words each year. Not all of the new words stick of course. New words are called Neologisms. Whether or not a word has officially become part of the language seems to depend upon whether or not the Oxford English Dictionary has picked it up. They have a world wide monitoring program that tracks words and phrases for signs of endurance.

There are also changes to sentence structure. One change that I have noticed is the increasing use of a double “is” as in “The thing about it is is that….” Or “The reason is is that….” I have even heard this on CBC radio!

Here is a relatively new word:
Peaknik n.
A person who believes that the world's oil reserves will soon peak and that subsequent oil shortages will devastate civilization:

“Paul the Tree comes by to give us a talk on how to make biodiesel. He takes waste vegetable oil from local chip shops and mixes it with oil. He is a peaknik — someone concerned about peak oil and its consequences. Like Agric, he believes we are at peak oil already.”—Dylan Evans, "Are visitors welcome or is this Noah's ark?," The Times (London), May 25, 2007

The most useful new words or phrases are the ones that describe something that used to require a whole sentence. “bad hair day” for instance has become useful .
A similar phrase I just saw for the first time today is “bad tongue day” for a day in which a person frequently mispronounces words and stumbles over sentences. I get those when I am tired.