Facebook has recently been awarded with a patent for software that can create a dictionary of slang words. These words are the terms mostly used in social media networks.
The software works by scanning the posts and comments on the social media site and then detects short phrases and unique words that refer to something specific to certain groups of people.
In simple terms, Facebook wants to foresee and then archive slang words before they get into the mainstream lingo. With this innovation, social media users who have specific attribute like language and location will experience a filtered content. The program allows specific and unique words to stand out.
"The software will look for the repeated use of particular words among users who share certain attributes, like language and location. Once the software has determined that a neologism isn't yet largely associated with a particular definition, it will add the word to a glossary of terms," stated the patent filing.
According to this document, when a word loses its popularity, it would be removed from the list. Words can be added as well, if user polls so suggest.
The document also suggested the possibility of an interface which would enable users to edit, remove, and add words in the dictionary. But the glossary concept is just being considered. The social media giant may not even create it.
The newly created words will be called neologisms. They will be considered as new additions to the spoken language that began from a limited and specific cultural or social sector but eventually spread to the mainstream.
For instance, the word "rad" was used in the 80s. The word came from "radical" which implies that the thing or person referred to is amazing. Another example is the word "sick" used in a positive sense which also inserted itself into the mainstream culture.
