Brush up on “new” words

As you know, new words are constantly being added to our vocabulary. Over time, they typically end up being added to dictionaries to become accepted as legitimate for even the most formal communication. However, since none of us learned these words in school and/or have been using them for years, there can be some question about their proper spelling, punctuation or capitalization.

You may be surprised to learn you’ve been using some new words incorrectly. While many of your readers won’t know the difference, as a professional you should strive to set an example and help make the correct usages standard.

6 new vocabulary words

• e-book (or really e-anything). You may have seen ebook, eBook, e-Book or Ebook, but e-book (or e-reader, e-billing, etc.) is correct.
• Wi-Fi. You may have seen WiFi, Wifi or wifi, but Wi-Fi is correct. It’s actually a proper noun and a registered trademark.
• google. Not to be mistaken for the search engine of the same name (Google), when you use it as a verb, i.e., to google something, it’s lowercase.
• crowdfunding. This new way to secure money isn’t two words (crowd funding) or hyphenated (crowd-funding), but a compound word.
• coworking. This trendy way to work is often written with a hyphen (co-working), but to be grammatically correct it should be a compound word.
• COVID-19. A word we wish wasn’t such a vocabulary staple, COVID alone is also okay, but it shouldn’t be written as Covid or covid, with or without the “19.”

Are there any new words you notice people using in various ways, making you wonder which are correct? Send them my way and I’ll soothe your soul with an answer.

My CanvasRebel feature

CanvasRebel magazine creates space for artists, creatives and entrepreneurs to learn from their peers through the magic and power of storytelling. What an honor it was for me to be asked to share my story of becoming a freelancer, which is here for you to enjoy.

Don’t be redundant

A great way to make content more succinct is to use abbreviations, defining them on the first reference and using them alone on subsequent references. For instance, registered investment advisor is abbreviated as RIA. When I recently saw this—”RIA advisors”—I shook my head (and changed it to “RIAs”). Get it?