Languages are ever-evolving, and English is no exception. That’s why the makers of the Collins English Dictionary have added over 260 new phrases to the 30th anniversary edition, due out on Thursday.

Some of the 267 new phrases added include mankini, Twitter, soz and beer o’clock, with many spawned from the rise in digital culture. Interestingly, a lot of new phrases are coming from sounds and interjections people make as they talk, which are being written down as said; ‘hee’ for example, expressing amusement.

Linguistics expert David Crystal said he was not surprised that the world wide web had played a big part in providing new words for inclusion.

He said: “In the early years, the internet was pretty isolated. If I was blogging, I was doing it on my own and I would have very little idea if anyone was reading my work or not.

“Any new words I tried to introduce may not have been picked up. Even with instant messaging, that was originally just two people and the odds of generating new popular words were possible but unlikely.

“However the surge in social networking sites results in an increased likelihood of new words being used by a wider audience.” (Source: BBC News)

Whilst I think it’s admirable for dictionary makers to keep up with the changes in the English language, I can’t help but feel that words such as frugalista have no place in a dictionary. In a slang or online dictionary, sure, but the longevity of the word frugalista surely won’t be worth its place in a physical dictionary. Perhaps I’m being a snob? I suppose, however, it will be of benefit to future generations who will be able to look back and know that in the two years prior to the dictionary being published, some English speakers were using that word.