Language is one of the aspects of humans that has changed and shifted forms over time. It’s obviously been a crucial part of how we communicate. This field has been studied greatly by professionals and is called linguistics. The passage of time has contributed to the development of many languages. Some popular languages of today include Mandarin, Spanish, and English. English is widely considered the “global language”, boasting more than 300 million native speakers and many seeking to improve their English skills in a short period of time.

The way languages evolve is that they come into contact with other languages. This leads to new words and mechanics being incorporated. But, other factors like social and technological changes have also contributed to language development. 

If we talk about advancement in the tech world, we will see many examples of how new words come about. New inventions are always being introduced and they need to be described. Terms like “internet’ and ‘smartphone” are very new additions when you consider the long evolution of language. The dictionary is regularly being updated to adapt to these changes.

Let’s look at how technological improvement has given birth to new words being developed.

What is BTC?

BTC is the shortened version of the word “Bitcoin”. This was the first crypto coin developed. Its linguistic aspects are the three letters from the first few that make up the word bitcoin. This makes the term BTC an initialism, a type of abbreviation where we have to pronounce each letter individually.

Bitcoin was developed in 2009 by a group operating through an alias. It has no governing authority behind it, making it decentralized by nature. It works through the blockchain tech, where all transactions conducted are recorded. It reached a market cap of $600 billion in April 2021. This growth contributed to BTC becoming a common phrase as people grew aware of crypto.

Bitcoin has many uses online, like in investing, marketplaces, and online casinos. These are areas where the term BTC has high usage. These have contributed to increasing the term’s popularity while also making people aware of how it functions. 

Online casinos, in particular, are an important player. They adopted the crypto coins in their early days and people who frequently used these became introduced to Bitcoin. The abbreviation, BTC, was commonplace here, and people engaging in the BTC casino platforms communicated with ease through it. The fact online casinos supported the decentralized currency was one of the reasons for their popularity.

Today, when we acknowledge the popularity of online gaming and casino platforms offering payments through Bitcoin, we have to also note that the vocabulary of these industries has become internationally accepted as linguistic norms.

How “Selfie” Became a Global Phenomenon

The concept of taking pictures in portrait form was present before the invention of modern camera devices. However, these were taken from disposable cameras, and the term “selfie” was not used. Many believe a man who posted in a forum online was the first to use "selfie".

In 2010, the iPhone 4 was released, featuring a front camera. This presented an opportunity for people to take pictures of their faces with ease. Speaking about the linguistics of this word, selfie comes from the first letters of self-portrait. This makes it an initialism. 

It was further popularized with the invention of social media. Instagram and Snapchat were particularly focused on sharing pictures, and they introduced filters specifically for front-facing photos. At that time, the hashtag “#selfie”, was also trending.

"Binge-Watching" in the Streaming Era

The creation of sites like Netflix led to the concept of binge-watching. It’s described as watching multiple episodes of a show or multi-part movies in a single session. According to a study, 70% of US consumers engage in this activity, highlighting its popularity.

Bing-watching comes from two different terms, making it a compound word. Binge refers to indulging in an activity while watching simply means viewing content. This makes it acute to describe the consumption of media.

Through this word, other similar words have also popped up. For example, “bingeable” is used to express content that can be binge-watched.

From "Spam" to "Phishing": The Language of Cybersecurity

Developments in the world of cybersecurity have contributed greatly to the language world. These new words generally revolved around a specialized lexicon that speaks of the threats and defenses in the digital universe.

Spam, for instance, was initially only used to refer to unwanted emails. However, its meaning was extended to encompass all unwanted digital messages. Phishing, on the other hand, is a portmanteau made by combining the words fishing and phreak. Phreak means hacking into telephone systems. 

There are more examples in the cybersecurity vocabulary like malware, ransomware, and botnets. These were all added when new threats were encountered and needed to be documented.