Latest Payack Stories

English is about to get its millionth word, a Texas wordsmith says.Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor, has calculated the millionth word will join the language June 10, 2009, at 10:22 a.m. His clock is set to the time in Stratford-on-Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare, a man who gave many words currency in modern English.The Million Word milestone brings to notice the coming of age of English as the first, truly global Language, Payack said.He finds three major...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It's a Nubian tribe, the word for "rose" in Persian, the "sun" in Sanskrit and, oh yes, it's also an obscure variation on the Hebrew name Sarah and refers to form of an Alpaca's wool. Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes may have gotten more than they bargained for naming their daughter Suri when she was born on Tuesday, according to language expert Paul JJ Payack, head of the Global Language Monitor, a group that studies word use. Payack said he found at least five...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - And the winner for Hollywood's word of the year is "Brokeback," thanks to all the talk around the water cooler and Internet jokes that have turned a film about two gay cowboys into a cultural phenomenon. The nonprofit group Global Language Monitor placed "Brokeback" -- as in the film title "Brokeback Mountain" -- at the top of its list of Hollywood words and phrases that captured attention this year. Paul JJ Payack, the head of Global Language Monitor, said the...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - And the winner for Hollywood's word of the year is "Brokeback," thanks to all the talk around the water cooler and Internet jokes that have turned a film about two gay cowboys into a cultural phenomenon.The nonprofit group Global Language Monitor placed "Brokeback" -- as in the film title "Brokeback Mountain" -- at the top of its list of Hollywood words and phrases that captured attention this year.Paul JJ Payack, the head of Global...