'Stacation', 'social notworking' "words to watch" for 2009

London, January 12 (ANI): The new Collins dictionary could include new words like 'Staycation'-a holiday spent at home, especially due to straitened financial circumstances.

Also under consideration are the words 'brickor mortis'-used to explain a period of difficult times in the housing industry-and 'bad bank'-meaning a state-owned financial institution created to alleviate a financial crisis.

The three words have already made it to the list of "words to watch" for 2009.

Last year, Collins' official list of new words included credit crunch, sub-prime, and downturn. And the new shortlist also reflects the economic gloom.

The new words, released on the publication of the latest edition of the Gem dictionary, will be monitored over the coming months to see whether they deserve an entry.

The judgement as to their inclusion will be made on the basis of where and how often they are used, and in how many texts they appear over the course of the year.

Besides the economic downturn, the trend in social networking has also been recognised, with the word 'social notworking'-the practice of spending time unproductively on social networking websites, especially when one should be working-being on the shortlist.

"We'll be keeping an eye on these rather gloomy expressions. With a bit of luck most of these will have slipped off the radar this time next year, but my money's on bad bank and staycation to stay the course," the Telegraph quoted Collins head of content Cormac McKeown as saying. (ANI)