Teen Girls Are Expanding Language Faster than Any Other Group

Some experts claim women are a full generation ahead of men when it comes to linguistics

Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

I’ll never forget how serious my grandma became after I said “funner” in her presence. I was about eight or nine years old, and we were walking across a parking lot when she stopped abruptly and said, “You mean ‘most fun.’” I replied that no, I did not. This made her very stern. She pointed a finger at me and said, “Funner is not a word,” before continuing to her car, marking the end of the discussion.

I’ve always seen language as expression and cared little for rules. So I still said “funner,” just not around her. Now, I’m not saying I made up the term, but it is widely used to the point that the debate over whether funner (and funnest) are words continues today. I’m not sure why that memory had such an impression on me, but today’s topic reminded me of it because it seems that, more than any other group, girls and women are the most innovative linguists.

Women Take the Lead

This year, in 2024, Dictionary.com’s English dictionary added 327 new words, including “greedflation,” “hellscape,” “digital nomad,” and “trauma dumping.” They also added 173 new definitions and revised the definitions of 1,228 words…