Latest Nerdic Terms Revealed for 2011

LONDON, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Retweet, Mifi, Cloud and Tablet are revealed today as among ten new technology words being added to the 2011 updated volume of the Nerdic dictionary.

Shortlisted from hundreds of entries by Europe's leading retailer PIXmania and technology magazine T3, who have both been monitoring the language; the latest submissions to Nerdic reflect the new emerging technologies and trends that are set to become commonplace across Europe next year.

Discovered in 2008, Nerdic breaks down traditional language barriers across Europe by allowing people to communicate via technical terminology. Despite being based in the English language, Nerdic phrases such as 'internet', 'dongle', 'wifi' and the verb 'to google' are now widely understood throughout Europe, with PIXmania estimating that there are now more than 2 billion uses of the Nerdic language every day by the 700 million people in Europe.  It has prompted the leading electrical retailer to apply for official recognition of Nerdic as a language.

Analysis from the panel of experts at PIXmania and T3 reveals that the growing influence of social media and tablet related computing across Europe are responsible for over half of the new terms to be added to the dictionary.

Ulric Jerome, managing director of Pixmania.com, comments: "Just like the technology it describes, it's natural that a language such as Nerdic constantly evolves.  The market is moving so fast that the new terms we have discovered for 2011 will probably be those to forget in 2012 as new technology supersedes what we perceive to be cutting edge today."

With almost 200 million people using Twitter and over 500 million using Facebook, it is no surprise that social media phrases that have qualified for submission in the 2011 volume with words such as Retweet, the act of passing a third party tweet on to your Twitter following, and Cloud, the remote storage facility, making the cut.

Kieran Alger, online editor of T3, explains the new additions to Nerdic: "As the creep of technology and social networking continues to change the way we behave, it's completely logical that it'll simultaneously change the way we speak. Every time Apple launches a service or a big manufacturer like Samsung creates new TV technology, we see a slew of new language leaking into our everyday dialogue to describe it.

"A year ago, if you'd have told someone that you retweeted their hashtag tweets about how the new Android OS Froyo was about to unleash the power of the Cloud, there's a good chance you'd be hauled in front of a doctor pretty sharpish. But it's normal now. With Facebook and Twitter reaching record audiences on a global scale the spread of this new techspeak is also faster than ever. A previously unknown term can become globally recognised almost within a day. That's a startling change to the way language builds up, and with technology becoming ever more prevalent, this is only going to increase."

To help Brits improve their Nerdic, Kieran Alger and his team have identified the top words and phrases to look out for in the next year - as well as those they can forget; a full glossary of which can be found online at Pixmania.co.uk.

Top Nerdic words for 2011

1. Facetime - Video calling service recently launched as part of the iPhone 4 upgrade  
2. Tablet - Netbook-killing touch-screen computers, helping to create a Tweet-while-you-watch two-screen media experience in a lounge near you
3. Froyo - The latest version of Google's fast growing Android platform for smart phones. Not to be confused with their not-yet-released next generation operating systems Gingerbread and Honeycomb
4. Augmented reality - Using the combined power of your device's GPS chip, camera and screen to overlay virtual information on to the real world. Currently on show in iPhone and Android apps like Layar and being overused by advertisers for gimmicky campaigns
5. Connected TV - Catch-all phrase that essentially means unleashing the power of the internet (or the Cloud) on your TV, with apps offering a multitude of additional entertainment from your gogglebox like video on demand services from LoveFilm along with the usual suspects like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube
6. MiFi - Pocket-sized device that uses the mobile network to turn you into your own mobile WiFi hotspot. Internet wherever you have a 3G network
7. AMOLED - The latest generation of OLED technology, where each set of pixels is controlled individually. Leads to a far sharper picture and greater contrast ratio without sacrificing OLED's super thin form factor
8. Retina Display - Apple's latest screen technology that claims to be so sharp the human eye can't even see how sharp it is. Could transform tablets into excellent ereaders
9. Cloud - The Big Yellow storage unit in the sky, the Cloud, lets you store all your information remotely and access it from any device wherever you need it, provided you have a connection
10. Retweet - The action of passing on a witty quip or insightful piece of commentary to your Twitter followers

Other Nerdic words that will become more prevalent throughout 2011 include: Followers, Paywall, Motion gaming, Mind control gaming, MID (Mobile Internet Device), LTE / WiMax, MeeGo, Snapdragon, Social gaming.

Nerdic words to forget in 2011

1. Google Wave - Another ill-fated launch from Google, web-based Wave tried to bring about a revolution in work, bringing instant messaging, email, and social networking together in one place. Main problem was that no one really knew how to make it work, or what it was really for
2. Bebo - Social networking site for a younger audience that took on Facebook and lost.
3. Landline - That thing you used to use to make phone calls to your family that now only serves as an additional 11 pounds Sterling per month on your monthly household bill
4. Facebook fan - The act of showing the people you've not yet 'unfriended' on Facebook that you're really, really into something, let's say Lady Gaga. Replaced by the 'Likes' button which is the act of showing those same people that you're into something but without the stalky overtones
5. MySpace - Place where musicians and music fans used to go to create profile pages using bizarre unreadable fonts
6. Widget TV - What TVs were called before we started hearing about Connected TV.
7. Maemo - Nokia's defunct mobile operating system that's about to be superseded by MeeGo
8. Poke -  The virtual act, via Facebook, of prodding someone to remind them that you're still alive, still on Facebook and that you either fancy them or are wondering why they've not spoken to you in five years. If you're poking people the answer to that question ought to be obvious. Hence its decline in popularity

To download the full glossary, please go to PIXmania.co.uk or PIXmania.com.

Note to editors:

About PIXmania.com and myPIX.com

Created in 2000, PIXmania.com is the largest European consumer electronic products store on the Internet. Present in 26 countries, PIXmania.com has 30 million unique visitors per month and more than 6 million customers. With more than 1,000,000 products, and 1,020 collaborators, PIXmania.com owes its success to the high level of availability of its products, its low prices, its speed of delivery and its numerous other associated services.

PIXmania.com also operates PIXmania-Pro, the B2B site dedicated to professionals, and myPIX.com. Created at the end of 2002, myPIX.com is a portal dedicated to the printing and storing of digital photos and has 2.5 million hits per month and 210 collaborators. myPIX.com handles the filing, sharing and printing of digital photos. The site also has the widest range of albums and frames, boasting 260 products.

DSG international plc is one of Europe's leading specialist electrical retailing groups.  It operates a multi-channel approach to electrical retailing and trades through more than 1,300 retail and online stores, spanning 27 countries and employing nearly 40,000 people.  More than 100 million customers shop in-store and online with DSGi every year.

Currys is the UK's biggest electrical retailer with a network of over 500 stores nation-wide, including out of town stores, high street Currys.digital stores and a Currys Megastore in the Midlands.  There are a range of lcd tv and Toshiba laptops at Currys and PC World as well as a host of tv offers.

*Based on  www.google.fr results for searches carried out [September 2010]

SOURCE DSGi