Moreover, in the world of nuclear deterrence and non-proliferation where often the role of the United States has been to assure its allies that it remains committed to their defence as well as to the goal of nuclear non-proliferation, words matter.
The proliferation of words used to describe gender identity adds a further complication: scientists need to know if such terms are stable psychological constructs, Rahman says.
The triumph of "selfie" is part of the larger and seemingly unstoppable proliferation of words and technological terms that lexicographers have struggled to keep up with.
Even if major print publications were to ignore such a film at first, the proliferation of word online is far likelier to get around — and then to get back to someone at a newspaper or a magazine and, at the very least, to shame a responsible critic into paying attention.
Curiously, though, as Opal put the book together, Sedgwick noticed a proliferation of French words in the diary.
Nonetheless, the proliferation of superfluous words is nothing new.
Justice Scalia, however, insisted that the proliferation of swear words made the prescriptivist case all the more urgent: parents should be able to consider broadcast TV a "relatively safe haven" for children.
In an effort reminiscent of France's doomed bid to halt the proliferation of English words in the language of Molière, the government of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi recently appointed a panel to propose measures to stem the foreign word corruption in the language of Lady Murasaki, author of the 11th-century "Tale of Genji".
But an example of the less useful, says Mr Sutherland, is the proliferation of the words "outsourcing" and "offshoring".
- (FR) The proliferation of new words is one of the symptoms of an incurable problem: a lack of talent or expertise despite the wealth of existing vocabulary.
As always, the sports pages had plenty (examples: Load of Drips, Ryders on the Storm, Don't be Crool and Matty's ready to Rool - how many Rooney puns can there be?) But it was the proliferation of childish word-play on the news pages that should give the editor, Dominic Mohan, pause for thought.
