The internet became widely popular in the 1990s, allowing for greater global communication and the convergence of languages. American media also grew in popularity in Britain, introducing American words and intensifiers like "so" into British English. During the Gulf War in 1991, governments introduced euphemistic terms like "collateral damage" and "friendly fire" to obscure accidental deaths. Advances in technology made reports on foreign wars more accessible and increased awareness of conflict-related vocabulary.

1. 1990-1999
Ele Walton

2. Internet
• The internet although invented at an indeterminate point in
the 80’s became popular in the 90’s allowing people greater
access to commination with one another on a global scale.
This meant that languages began to converge as they were
shared.
• The internet also brought with it a whole field of lexis and
Jargon some of which would no longer be recognised by
younger generations such as “Boot-up” but also other still
relevant terms such as “spam” and “emoticon”.

3. American influence
• The availability and subsequent popularity of American media
distributed in the UK resulted in an influx of American words
into the English language. American media became mainstream
with shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air being aired on
BBC 2 from 1991 to 2004. Friends also had an impact with the
most popular American intensifier “so” being adopted by the
British audience.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iL0ClUKFl8U
• MTV saw the beginning of realtiy television something that
would go on to grip the western world in later years.
• The 90’s saw country music become a world wide phenomenon
increasing exposure to a certain life style and a sociolect and
dialect specific to the genre.

4. War
• Governments in attempts to cover or
soften the impacts of war will often
introduce euphemistic terms as was
done in the Gulf War in 1991. Terms
such as “Collateral damage” and
“Friendly fire.” were introduced to
disguise accidental deaths resulting
from actions and firing upon allies.
• Reports on wars in foreign countries
were far more accessible than had
been in previous centuries and even
decades due to technological
advances meaning that the
population saw a lot more of what
was happening in the wider world
and the influence of conflict.

5. Science
• GM products were developed for commercial use giving
rise to a large debate and controversy over the moral and
health concerns of such foods.
• Many scientific discoveries were made including physics
were words such as dark matter, dark energy, brown
dwarfs, black holes were coined to name discoveries.
• DNA identification became useful in criminal testimony
and found wider use in forensic investigation.
• The field of DNA in general was expanding with the
Human Genome Project beginning and Dolly the Sheep
being cloned. Intense media coverage brought field
specific lexis to public attention.

6. The Environment
• Global Warming becomes a major concern in the climate
change debate. Many environmental movements such as
Greenpeace draw attention to the deforestation of the
Rainforest.
• The environment became more of a cause for concern
and thus was more widely discussed in the media and
news coverage thus increasing awareness of issues and
also the knowledge of lexis used to describe it in the
wider population.
• Access to the internet and greater communication makes
it easier for the population to see the matter for
themselves and understand something happening on the
other side of the world.

7. Social
• Whilst the world health organisation removed
homosexuality from it’s list of diseases in 1990
intolerance was still rife throughout the decade,
although slowly improving. Slang and derogatory
words were very common and socially acceptable
not thought of as particularly taboo as they would
by todays standards.

8. Games
• The first ever video game
was invented in 1958 but
it hit a real boom in the
90’s with the release of
Mario, Zelda, Spyro, Tomb
Raider, Sonic and
Pokemon all spawning
there own specific lexis
and jargon mostly used
by the younger
generations who were the
consumers of the games.

9. Fashion
• The grunge style was a hangover from the 80’s in the
early 90’s.
• The Wonderbra was invented.
• “The Rachel” was a culturally phenomenal haircut
worn all over the world following the airing of friends.
• Fashion become even more consumable due to
developments in communication and the internet it
became even easier for people to see what everyone
else was wearing and consume celebrity culture.
• Slap bracelets were a brief craze.
• UK fashion icons included girl bands such as the spice
girls.