'Lin-sanity' joins English language

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AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- The Texas-based Global Language Monitor said Lin-sanity, the excitement surrounding New York Knicks player Jeremy Lin, has entered the English language.

The Global Language Monitor, which tracks language use online and in print media, said it declared Lin-sanity to have entered the English language once it reached 25,000 citations across the English speaking world.

"Lin-sanity following the ascension of the word 'tebowing' so quickly might herald the beginning of a linguistic fad, where the names of sports personalities are blended with conventional terms into interesting new word forms that convey the achievement, personality, or other characteristic of the competitor," said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor.

"History records a number of such fads such as prefacing the names of political figures with ol' or old in 19th century America, such as Old Abe (Lincoln) or Old Kinderhook (for Martin van Buren and the origin of the word 'OK'). With the London 2012 Olympics on the horizon, it will be interesting to see if the fad becomes a global phenomenon, and in what languages."