CM 231: What Makes a Word Real?

I don’t think a word has to be in a dictionary to be considered real. I think any word that we use everyday in our normal conversation is considered real. There are words that are not in the dictionary that we use everyday, but just because it isn’t in the dictionary doesn’t mean that we don’t know what the word means or that there isn’t a specific way that we use it. Also, the word could already be in the dictionary, but the definition we have for the word is not the same as the one in the dictionary. For example, “lit” used to be known as the past form of light, now when you hear “lit” it is more used to say that something is cool and is used as slang. So i think that the only requirements for a word to be considered real would be for more than one person to know what the word means and how to use it. If only two people know what it is, I wouldn’t really consider it a word, but say if a whole class knew what a word is then I’d say it is a word because it is being used by multiple people.