'Nerdic' language is fastest-growing in Europe

"Me and my android were trying to surf on the Milton Keynes wimax the other day when somebody rickrolled my email." A simple translation would tell you I was using one of the most advanced mobile phones to access the wireless internet in Milton Keynes the other day when somebody had the cheek to divert me away from my email account to a video of "Never Gonna Give You Up" by '80s one-hit-wonder Rick Astley.

Why anyone would do this is probably a mystery to most people. But the very fact that a verb (rick-roll) has been invented to cover such an action is testament to the plethora of new words being created to keep up with the latest techno trends.

Some call it "geek speak", others use the term "nerdic". Indeed, Pixmania, one of Europe's largest electronic internet retailers, said yesterday nerdic is Europe's "fastest growing dialect". It claims more than 100 new words were added to the nerdic vocabulary in the past 12 months – more than three times the number the Oxford English Dictionary added to the English language.

Michael Brook, editor of T3 magazine, said: "The technology industry creates new words just as quickly as it comes up with new gadgets." But he said it was unlikely the nerdic dictionary was growing rapidly because many words to describe older technology had disappeared.

Stuart Miles, editor of Pocket-Lint.co.uk, said technology had invented "a whole new way of communicating".

What's in, and what's out...

WIMAX

Powerful wireless internet which can cover whole cities. The lucky people of Milton Keynes already have it.

EGOSURFERS

Those people who spend all day looking themselves up on the internet.

HDMI

The new generation Scart lead that allows you to connect high-definition devices together, which is also much smaller than the clumpy scart leads most people have to use.

RICK-ROLL

To deliberately divert someone to a video of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" while they're web browsing.

HSDPA

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access to the techies, but to us it's the new 3G software which supposedly makes the internet on your phone as quick as broadband.

UGC

User Generated Content – whether it's Facebook, Myspace, Flickr or YouTube, if your website doesn't let your audience contribute then you're way behind the times.

ANDROID

Phones featuring Google's Android software which allows anyone to write their own software. Many say it will knock the iPhone off its perch.

FUEL CELLS

New types of environmentally friendly batteries which use methanol and could replace lithium-ion cells.

TWITTER

To drone on endlessly (usually on Facebook) about what you are currently doing, regardless of how inconsequential your actions are.

MASH-UP

When two elements from different websites are combined – think Google Maps listing where local restaurants are, for instance.

RFID

Radio Frequency Identification: tool that allows you to track packages in real time.

DVB-H

Newly announced Mobile TV standard for Europe that allows you to watch TV on your mobile on the go.

OLED

Organic LEDs that use up less electricity because they don't have to be backlit. A few mobiles and MP3 players have just begun using them.

HD-DVD

Toshiba's DVD format has gone the way of Betamax, now Blu-ray has won the battle of the optical disc storage format.

DIAL-UP

It won't be long before kids ask what surfing the net was like before broadband took over the world.

CRT

Cathode ray tube, the technical term for old TVs.

KILOBYTE

The days when computers came with 64kb of memory are long gone. Nowadays, even the cheapest computer boasts a 120gb hard drive.