This TED talk excerpt (Anne Curzan) asks how words become part of dictionaries and argues that community usage — repeated use by speakers — determines whether a word is "real." Curzan emphasizes that dictionary editors observe usage but do not unilaterally decide meaning; communities function as the final arbiter of word legitimacy, including slang or informal terms.
So how does a word get into a dictionary? It gets in because we use it and we keep using it. And dictionary editors are paying attention to us, if you're thinking. But that lets all of us decide what words mean. I would say yes, it does, and it always has. Dictionaries are a wonderful guide and resource, but there is no objective dictionary authority out there. That is the final arbiter of about what words mean. If a community of speakers is using a word and knows what it means, it's real. That word might be slangy, that word might be informal. That word might be a word that you think is illogical or unnecessary, but that word that we're using, that word is real.
