The Lexicographer's Rules

More new words (most of which we could do without). “They’re not new words exactly; rather, they’re words that have been flung at the proverbial brick wall so often over the last 10 years or so that they’ve stuck.”

Otherwise, it’s the same-old lame article in which a dispirited journalist tries to cobble together reasonable sentences out of otherwise unrelated words. These sorts of articles have been appearing in newspapers since at least the 1930s. I imagine that when journalists see they’ve been assigned yet another rewrite of a dictionary publisher’s press release their furtive searches of job listings at Poynter Online take on new vigor.

When is a word not a word?  Is ten years a long enough duration?  Will the word be removed if it is no longer in use ten years from dictionary publication?

When you produce a specialized dictionary clearly labeled slang and jargon, it’s useful right now.