Timeless words

You would not be reading this sentence if it weren’t for this technology

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Writing has come a long way since the days of clay tokens and etched stone tablets. What started as simple marks to track trade has evolved into a tool for storytelling, record-keeping, and instant messaging. Along the way, alphabets, paper, printing presses, typewriters, and touchscreens have all helped to shape the way we communicate. Take a look at 14 cultural and technological milestones that brought us to where we are today.

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While individual traces and symbols can be found in earlier cultures, the Sumerians were probably the first civilization to "officially" establish a system that laid the foundation for what we know today as written communication.

Between 8000 and 3500 BCE, clay tokens representing units of goods were used primarily for accounting purposes.

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Between 3500 and 3000 BC, the Sumerians replaced the earlier three-dimensional tokens with two-dimensional pictographic signs.

Like the tokens that came before, this early pictographic script was still used exclusively for accounting purposes—pictographic writing recorded lists of commodities, labor, taxes, and trade.

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Between the years 3000 and 1500 BC, the Sumerians introduced phonetic signs and used them to transcribe the names of individuals. This marked a turning point when writing began to emulate spoken language and, as a result, became applicable to all fields of human knowledge.

It expanded from accounting and administration into law, literature, religion, and science.

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The fourth major evolution in writing came with the invention of what we now recognize as the alphabet. This early version consisted of about two dozen letters, each representing a single spoken sound.

The alphabet perfected the representation of speech. Following ideography, logography, and syllabaries, it marked a further segmentation of meaning into smaller units, enabling the communication of more specific and abstract concepts.

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First known to be used in Ancient Egypt, papyrus is a material similar to thick paper that served as a writing surface, far easier to transport than stone or even clay tablets. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, a wetland sedge abundant in the Nile Delta.

For thousands of years, papyrus was rolled into scrolls for storage. Later in its history, however, it began to be compiled into codices, a format not unlike the modern book.

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In Europe, papyrus was gradually overtaken by parchment due to the latter’s greater durability and strength. Like papyrus, parchment could be produced relatively cheaply, scrolled easily, and transported from points of origin, but unlike papyrus, parchment did not crumble with age and could be reused.

These advantages made parchment the preferred writing medium in both the ancient and medieval worlds. Additionally, because both sides of a parchment sheet could be written on, the development of the modern book became possible.

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Paper, as we know it today, started its days in Ancient China, where court officials recorded for the first time that plant and animal fibers—such as mulberry bark or bamboo—could be processed to produce this new writing medium. From China, the technology spread across Asia, then to the Arab world, and finally to Europe.

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The Greeks and Romans modified the stylus from a tool used to mark clay tablets into one that could hold ink and apply it to other surfaces. Reeds were initially used for this purpose, and eventually, it was discovered that bird feathers could also hold ink, making the quill the preferred writing instrument for many centuries.

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The wooden pencil was an innovative improvement over the stylus because it did not require liquid ink to work. It was also cleaner to use and could be erased.

Early pencils were potentially hazardous since they contained lead, which was not encased in wood, exposing users to lead poisoning. By the 18th century, pencil makers developed a safer manufacturing process that combined powdered graphite with clay, which was then baked, formed into sticks, cut, and glued into wooden casings.

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The ability to spread written communication on a massive scale became a reality when Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable type printing press in Germany around 1440.

Primarily used for producing texts, the invention and global spread of the printing press was one of the most influential events of the second millennium. A single press could produce up to 3,600 pages per workday, compared to about forty pages by hand printing and just a few by hand copying.

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The first commercial typewriters were introduced in the late 19th century and quickly became indispensable tools for nearly all writing, except for personal handwritten correspondence.

The QWERTY keyboard layout, developed for typewriters in the 1870s, remains the de facto standard for English-language computer keyboards used today.

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The age of computers gradually phased out typewriters by introducing the ability to rewrite and modify text in any way imaginable, in real time. Since then, word processors have become the standard software used worldwide for creating and editing text in a digital environment.

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Speech recognition software, also known as voice-to-text, has allowed us to"write" with our voices by dictating into our smartphones whatever we need to record, much like personal secretaries used to do decades ago.

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Researchers are investigating methods to generate written text by "reading" a person’s brain activity. This technology could prove useful for, among other things, helping individuals with physical disabilities communicate more effectively. A breakthrough that could bring science fiction closer to reality!

Words that marked eras

Have you ever unfriended someone? 10 words that were "Words of the Year"

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Fifty years ago, you would have been met with blank stares if you had used words like "unfriend" or "doomscrolling." When you read a list of the selected Words of the Year from the last two decades, you get a comprehensive snapshot of the main worldwide preoccupations of our time. Whether driven by technology, fashion, popular hobbies, or social media use, these words have become ingrained in the lexicon of dozens of countries. Let’s explore ten of the most interesting terms that prestigious English dictionaries have selected as "Words of the Year" in this century.

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In 2006, when Facebook was launched to the general public, the era of social media craze began. Teenagers as well as adults from all over the world slowly started joining the site with the blue logo to create their own accounts and reconnect with long-lost friends and acquaintances. By 2009, however, many people were regretting this.

The Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year for 2009 was "unfriend." The term symbolized a new type of online relationship dynamic that social media was enabling. Oxford considered that the verb had the potential for longevity in a world where millions were making and breaking digital bonds every day. Although it is not as relevant today as it was 15 years ago, similar terms like "unfollow" are still common currency.

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Although self-portraits have existed for as long as photography itself, the invention of devices with front-facing cameras allowed people to carefully review images before capturing them. For the first time ever, it became very easy to take many flattering photos of oneself.

The earliest known use of the word "selfie" appeared in the 2000s. It is a playful diminutive (hypocorism) of the term "self-portrait photograph" that first caught on in Australian slang and later spread worldwide. In 2013, following the boom of sites like Instagram, Oxford Dictionaries named "selfie" the Word of the Year, explaining that its use in the English language had grown by around 17,000% in 12 months. The popularity of the word has become such that nowadays, front-facing cameras in smartphones are often called "selfie cameras."

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This word was originally a slur. It derives from the German word geck, which means "fool" or "freak." For centuries, it was used pejoratively in that spirit, mainly to refer to carnival performers. However, by the time Collins Dictionary named it Word of the Year in 2013, its definition had changed. It had come to refer to a person enthusiastic about or knowledgeable in a particular field.

The editors at Collins explained that this word was chosen to signal how an old insult could evolve to have a positive connotation for experts worthy of admiration. After all, since the early 2010s, the word had been reserved for technologically oriented savvies who have been leading the way with this century’s inventions.

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Photobombing is the act of appearing in the background of a picture and distracting from the main subjects, whether intentionally or not. For several months in 2014, one photo of several celebrities simultaneously photobombing a selfie broke the record for shares on Twitter at the time, which helped turn the word into a mainstream concept.

Collins Dictionary named it the 2014 Word of the Year. However, it is believed that, much like selfies, photobombs have existed for a long time. A picture taken in 1853 in Wales already showed two ladies sitting for a portrait while a third, captured in blurrier detail, poked her head out from behind them.

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Yes, the 2015 Word of the Year was controversial: it was an emoji. Technically, emojis are "pictographs"—graphical symbols that resemble the objects they represent. In 2015, the Oxford Dictionary decided that the smiley face with tears of joy was representative both of laughter and of ironic preoccupation. This emoji was the second most used worldwide, behind only the red heart emoji.

The creation of these icons, however, dates back to the 1990s in Japan. They were developed to enhance the expressiveness of electronic messages through the use of logograms. Emoji is a Japanese word that combines e, meaning "picture," and moji, meaning "character."

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The digital content-streaming platforms introduced over the last 20 years have allowed people to develop a very modern hobby: binge-watching. Most often applied to TV series, the term refers to marathons of consuming two or more episodes of a show, usually in a self-indulgent way. The term can also apply to watching movie series or online videos in the same manner.

Though the expression has modern connotations, it has been used to describe fanatical consumption of TV content since the 1950s. Collins Dictionary named it the Word of the Year for 2015 after observing its usage rise by 200%, mostly applied to people who watched the TV series House of Cards or Breaking Bad in surprisingly short periods.

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To recycle means to remake a material into its original form; for example, making a bottle out of a bottle. But to "upcycle" means to give a new purpose to an already used product; for example, using a bottle as a flower vase. The trend of finding new uses for old or discardable items surged in the 2010s, and the Cambridge Dictionary noticed an increase in its popularity in 2019.

The term was coined in a 1994 ecology article suggesting that instead of "recycling" waste products, a more helpful practice would be to "upcycle" them—that is, to give them a second, more useful life. In this case, the institution held an open poll where the audience could vote for their favorite Word of the Year. "Upcycle" was chosen because of its significance in the efforts against waste pollution.

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Designers of modern portable devices succeeded in modeling display screens as if they were endless scrolls. This format may have facilitated reading on vertical screens, but it also encouraged an addictive habit of non-stop media consumption referred to as "doomscrolling."

The Macquarie Dictionary, the dictionary of Australian English, named this word the 2020 Word of the Year for its rapid rise in usage during that period. Several English dictionaries have since incorporated it as a recognized word. "Doom" refers negatively to the overwhelming sense of despair or captivity caused by excessive internet use. "Doomsurfing" is another version of the term with a similar meaning..

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Gas Light was a 1938 play by British playwright Patrick Hamilton. In it, a man slowly drove his wife into mental instability by confusing her and lying about verifiable facts, such as whether the gas lights were fully lit or not. Psychologists later adopted the term to describe abusive manipulation through deception, and the concept became mainstream within a few years.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary named "gaslighting" the Word of the Year after searches for the word rose by 1,740% in 2022. It was noted, however, that the term’s use had expanded to describe media and technology accused of "gaslighting" audiences by publishing misleading information.

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The term "rizz" became online slang after a popular video creator and his friends started using it to refer to a person with an attractive attitude. The widespread understanding was that the word was a shortened form of "charisma," or a synonym for having charm. Kai Cenat, the American creator who popularized the term, said he didn’t intend it as a synonym for "charisma," but the word took on a life of its own after becoming a trending expression online.

Oxford Dictionary named "rizz" the Word of the Year for 2023, a term that won against close contenders like "Swiftie," "prompt," and "de-influencing," all of which had been widely popular across English media in 2022.