Blogosphere; flash mob; threequel: just some of the terms added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary over the last few years.

In an age of instant communication, new ways of speaking are popping up everywhere. But What’s Next in language is frequently road-blocked by cynicism and even fear. Generations raised by ruler-slapping grammar gods often reject effective phraseology with the narrow-minded excuse “that’s not a word”.

But language is created by conversation, not the other way around. William Shakespeare coined anywhere from 1,700 to 10,000 new words and phrases, including fashionable, published and satisfying. He also used existing words in ways they hadn’t been used before; he was the first to use the word “advertising” as an adjective. The words we use today exist simply because somebody made them up yesterday.

So what does this mean for your brand?

It means you can do more than sell a product or service; you can change the way people communicate.

Take, for instance, Bandaid® and Kleenex®. We know the official names for these types of products are “bandage” and “tissue”, but chances are you use the brand names in regular conversation. Google™ isn’t a “proper” word, but it’s already more than a brand; it’s a verb. Word-of-mouth advertising at its height.

It doesn’t stop with names; some Internet subcultures create mantras and whole new dialects that are nonsense to the rest of us. “All your base are belong to us” began as a translation error in a Japanese video game, and quickly became a battle cry for gamers all over the English-speaking world; so popular it’s been shortened into an acronym, AYBABTU. Perhaps it is the TANSTAAFL of Generation Y.

Bottom line, more words with more uses means there are ever-increasing ways to perfect your tone and define your brand’s personality. That’s not to say you should use words just because they are new; choose phrasing that speaks to your unique audience. The grammatical atrocity that is “lolcats” wouldn’t be preferable for use in a banking ad, but if you are trying to sell footwear to teenage cat-lovers, a headline that reads “I can has shoes?” might just pwn.

So be a little braver when you're naming your brand. Get a little more creative with your copy. And the next time someone tells you frenemy isn’t a word, just tell that zigblat to farfle it.