A standout moment in an otherwise less than standout Star Trek movie, The Final Frontier is Spock’s use of the word marshmelon instead of marshmallow, during a camp out in Yosemite National Park.

Some Trek fans argue it is an error by Spock, who is slightly out of touch with camping rituals on Earth (not surprising given he is a Vulcan), while others have suggested marshmelon is an example of changes in the use of language over time.

Those who would rather not wait until the 23rd century however to see how the English language has changed, or evolved, ought to check out the list of “word watch” sites put together by Josh Catone at Sitepoint.

In one of my favorite television shows, “Futurama,” there is a running gag that in the future, the word “ask” has been replaced by the more colloquial “aks” (pronounced axe). It might be a long time before the accepted spellings and pronunciations of common words like “ask” change, but the joke highlights a very real aspect of language: it evolves. The English language has changed a lot over the past 150 years, for example, in both spelling, pronunciation, and addition and subtraction of words.