Facebook patents system to identify new slang terms before they're cool

Facebook has received a new patent that will help it avoidhavingto ask, "Is that what the kids call it?"

Granted in February, thepatent is for aprogram that would essentially helpFacebook search for new slang terms and then storethem in a glossary.

The proposed algorithmwould allow the companytoscourits social network for neologisms, or new expressions that are used within distinct communities, but are not necessarily popular.

Consider phrases like "humble bragging," which describes an attempt toappear modest but is actually boasting, or "rage quitting," which means to end an activity because of great frustration.

Both of these are examples of internet neologisms listed by JSTOR that follow a similar pattern in this case adding an emotional modifier to verbs.

If Facebook implements the program, it would never have to ask what "uglycrying" is, because its system wouldspot theneologismand cross-reference itwith existing terms.

In the patent, the company statesit'strying to identify "slang, terms of art, portmanteaus, syllabic abbreviations, abbreviations, acronyms, names, nicknames, repurposed words or phrases, or any other type of coined word or phrase."

The patent mentions "Rickrolling" as a phenomenon it could quickly pick up on. Rickrolling isa now datedinternet trend of pretending to link to an item of interest, but instead linkingto avideo of Never Going to Give You Upby Rick Astley.

If the programdiscovers that the phrase in questionhasn't been used in that context before, it'll be added to aslang dictionary. Once that phrase stops being used, however, the system will delete it from the database.

That way, it could pick up onexpressionslike "Netflix and chill" (meaning sex)while dropping "information superhighway" (the internet) as language evolves.

Facebook doesn't say exactly what it would use its database for, though it does give a few suggestions.

"Information related to one or more textual terms in the glossary is provided to enhance auto-correction, provide predictive test input suggestions, or augment social graph data," the company wrote in the patent's abstractregarding potential uses.