Most used word of 2008

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99sngbrd99's avatar

“LOL”

99sngbrd99's avatar

LIKE

iwamoto's avatar

ROFL

misskelly's avatar

F*?@ …. Profanity is being accepted in the workplace and socially more & more, I just find it lacking. To me Knowledge is power and an enriched vocabulary is more interesting!!!

99sngbrd99's avatar

yea i wish people used more nteresting words!

cookieman's avatar

“bitch” and “asshole” have been far more prevalent on broadcast TV. Not sure I like it.

Personally, I could live without hearing the “Palin” ever again (sure it’s a proper name, but what the hey).

tinyfaery's avatar

Maverick

Curious404's avatar

“Cautiously” and “Optimistic”. Double points when used together!

asmonet's avatar

Change.

Shoo, word. Shoo.

tyrantxseries's avatar

Political people/parties apologizing

seekingwolf's avatar

Maverick. Maverick-y….any variations of the word.
GAH!

kfingerman's avatar

I HATE the way “retarded” as an all-purpose insult seems to have crept back into common usage among people who should know better.

augustlan's avatar

‘My friends.”

gailcalled's avatar

Awesome.. the umbrella word for everything, it seems.

mea05key's avatar

credit crunch

Jeruba's avatar

laureth's avatar

Meltdown. Bailout. Wall Street. Main Street.

Cardinal's avatar

At the end of the day………………..

I’m playing in a new sandbox now.

Awesome, way over used.

Spargett's avatar

“Douchebag”.

tiffyandthewall's avatar

“chill”
as in, “omg i made some chill bracelets”, “omg i’m sooo chill!~”, “my cat is really chill”, “this movie is like so chilllll!” ugh.
gdfjgxdfk. SO ANNOYING.

tandra88's avatar

Gosh, isn’t Obama the most over used word of 2008?

laureth's avatar

It would be hard to stop using Obama’s name, though, much like it would have been hard to not use the name “Bush” or “Dubya” a while back.

tandra88's avatar

@laureth: Yeah, that is true.

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Источник

Hlrg_TooMuchInfo2

If the most looked up words are any reflection of the mood of our society , it is no wonder that “bailout”—a word ubiquitously featured in discussions of the presidency & fiscal policy—took home honors as Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2008.

Bailout (noun): a rescue from financial distress

The origin of the word bailout here. Infact the top 10 list reflects politics & the economy were foremost on the minds of many Americans during 2008. For example – second on the list -“vet” means to evaluate a candidate’s suitability and qualifications for a position. And in third place, just in front of “maverick” – a word used during the long presidential campaign to describe Republican candidate John McCain – was the word “socialism”.

Bailout also won American Dialect Society’s word of the year contest.

With social media on rise all across the globe , there is just excess of personal information we are divulging on blogs & SN profiles. Not a big surprise again – “overshare” is Webster’s New World Dictionary’s word of the year.

Overshare (verb): to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval.

Blogs surged with “Oversharing” this year from a New York Times Magazine cover story in May by Emily Gould, a former editor of Gawker.com. Gould spilled the goods on her ongoing professional and romantic dramas on her own blog, and then wrote about the perils of oversharing: “Technology just enables us to overshare on a different scale.”

Two other candidates for Word of the Year 2008

Cyberchondriac (noun): a hypochondriac who imagines that he or she has a particular disease based on medical information gleaned from the Internet.
Selective Ignorance (noun): the practice of selectively ignoring distracting, irrelevant, or otherwise unnecessary information received, such as e-mails, news reports, etc.

Infact the words underscores that in the year 2008 has seen one element of ‘Attention Economy‘ shaping up – “consumer attention”. However privacy challenges are around. A recent IDG’s study found that only 3% of users surveyed are OK with publishers using their contact information for advertising.

Will 2009 be the year of “attention services”? Feel free to overshare in the comments!

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Источник

  • #1

Nothing’s better during the holidays than to harp about what irks us. :D

We all know how kids, especially teens slip in «umm» or «like» into their conversations. However, adults (including myself) also fall into the trap of using unnecessary words.

The following over-used words are currently driving me up the wall. In the past, what drove me nuts was the use of «going forward», especially at work. Nowadays, the following are getting on my nerves:

1) Actually
2) Basically
3) Absolutely

A few friends and I made a drinking game out of this too. We were out one night at a friend’s party and we said that everytime we heard one of these three words from ourselves or from another partygoer, we take a swig of beer. We were hammered pretty quickly.

If you have a similar beef, feel free to vent as well.

  • #2

«Main Street»
:rolleyes:

  • #5

‘going forward’. every jerk middle manager uses it.

  • #6

Actually, «going forward» appears to have basically impacted you negatively.

Sorry; just had to. ;)

  • #7

Pay It Forward is a phrase used way too much.
Also the word Film.

  • #8

Maverick! good god maverick!

EDIT: Ohh! and ‘elite’, pronounced ehh-lee-te (as opposed to the typical North American way ahh-lee-te) just to sound French-ish and hence even more ‘elite.’ Common examples: ‘Elite media loves Barack Obama’ ‘Sarah Palin is not elite’ and ‘the ballet is for the elite.’ Commonly accompanied by ‘real,’ meaning the subject shops at Target and lives somewhere in Idaho, as the logical counterpoint to ‘elite.’ These two words, when used in conjunction, have a habit of turning otherwise unqualified people into qualified people (by virtue of being unqualified…) and vice versa. They just about ruined the 2008 election.

Last edited: Dec 26, 2008

  • #9

Pay It Forward is a phrase used way too much.
Also the word Film.

Film? As in cinema?

  • #10

Maverick! good god maverick!

EDIT: Ohh! and ‘elite’, pronounced ehh-lee-te (as opposed to the typical North American way ahh-lee-te) just to sound French-ish and hence even more ‘elite.’ Common examples: ‘Elite media loves Barack Obama’ ‘Sarah Palin is not elite’ and ‘the ballet is for the elite.’ Commonly accompanied by ‘real,’ meaning the subject shops at Target and lives somewhere in Idaho, as the logical counterpoint to ‘elite.’ These two words, when used in conjunction, have a habit of turning otherwise unqualified people into qualified people (by virtue of being unqualified…) and vice versa. They just about ruined the 2008 election.

So wait, you oppose pronouncing élite properly??? Do you also pronounce «niche» «nitch» instead of «neesh»?

  • #11

Film, instead of saying movie.

  • #12

Film, instead of saying movie.

Movies are the mundane crap that comes out of Hollywood, while film is the really good stuff and cinema is the really really good stuff. There is nought wrong in being specific in one’s tastes.

  • #13

So wait, you oppose pronouncing élite properly??? Do you also pronounce «niche» «nitch» instead of «neesh»?

‘élite’ is not an English word. It is a French loan word that is used to convey some kind of misplaced air of sophistication to a subject which most of the time has little. Having Lou Dobbs going around prattling about ‘élite’ this and ‘élite’ that purposefully to associate the subject with some kind of American obsession with a perceived French snootiness is stupid. We all know what ‘elite’ means, coincidentally the exact same thing as ‘élite’, there is no bloody point in using a french word to describe it.

Take these sentence:

CC used his car to travel to the store.

OR

CC used his voiture to travel to the magasin.

Both of these are perfectly complete sentences and generally correct. The problem is people like Jack Cafferty would imply you, CC, are an elitist because even the sentence describing you has hoity toity French in it. Really, you are too ‘élite’ for the proper, American, ‘elite.’ It would be like if in the 1930s Marvel tried to slander Superman by refering to him as ‘Ãœberman’ or ‘Sugoiman’ and associating it with the Axis. If an author chooses to forgo a perfectly acceptable English version of a word and opt for a loan word, with whatever stupid connotations that language holds, it doesn’t reflect on anyone but the author that choose that word. So, Barack Obama being ‘élite’ does not make him French, or realy any more elite than the word ‘elite’ already implies, it just implies that whoever choose that word is an idiot.

EDIT: Ohh, and this isn’t a word. but it certainly is overused: ‘Perfect Storm.’ If I have to hear this one more time, I will loose faith in the English language. We don’t need to attribute absolutely anything that has more than one cause -which incidentally includes just about every event- to a ‘perfect storm’ of factors. There are a lot of different ways to attribute multiple causality without popping ‘perfect storm’ like Advil. Considering the amount of research, in every subject, that attributes cause to a variety of forces you would think journalists would have a wealth of choices in terminology. Might not be safe for TV, but ‘clusterf**k’ (is this a kosher level of profanity?) would be a big step forward for some. Maybe a «convergence of factors» or a simultaneous ‘break down of previously interdependent self supporting systems’ if they wanted to sound like pompous jerks? Please, journalists, try harder.

Last edited: Dec 27, 2008

  • #14

Movies are the mundane crap that comes out of Hollywood, while film is the really good stuff and cinema is the really really good stuff. There is nought wrong in being specific in one’s tastes.

That’s of your opinion, but a film is a movie, and a movie is a film.
I didn’t say there is anything wrong, I just stated it’s an overused word of 2008.

  • #15

Please, journalists, try harder.

All you’d end up with then is «pefect stormgate» or «clusterf*ckgate.»

Источник

The lists of Merriam-Webster’s Words of the Year (for each year) are ten-word lists published annually by the American dictionary-publishing company Merriam-Webster, Inc., which feature the ten words of the year from the English language. These word lists started in 2003 and have been published at the end of each year. At first, Merriam-Webster determined its contents by analyzing page hits and popular searches on its website. Since 2006, the list has been determined by an online poll and by suggestions from visitors to the website.[1]

The Words of the Year usually reflect events that happened during the years the lists were published. For example, the Word of the Year for 2005, ‘integrity’, showed that the general public had an immense interest in defining this word amid ethics scandals in the United States government, corporations, and sports.[2] The Word of the Year for 2004, ‘blog’, was looked up on the Online Dictionary the most as blogs began to influence mainstream media.[3] In 2006, Merriam-Webster received a lot of publicity as ‘truthiness’, a word coined by Stephen Colbert on The Colbert Report, topped the list.[4]

Selection processEdit

When the Word of the Year was started in 2003, Merriam-Webster determined which words would appear on the list by analyzing page hits and popular searches to its website.[1] For example, the 2003 and 2004 lists were determined by online hits to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Online Thesaurus and to Merriam-WebsterCollegiate.com.[5][6] In 2006 and 2007, Merriam-Webster changed this practice, and the list was determined by an online poll among words that were suggested by visitors to the site.[1] Visitors were requested to vote for one entry out of a list of twenty words and phrases. The list consisted of the words and phrases that were frequently looked up on the site and those that were submitted by many readers.[4] From 2008 onwards, however, user submissions have not been a deciding factor, and the list has been composed only of the words which were looked up most frequently that year. Merriam-Webster said that the reason for the change was that otherwise ordinary words were receiving so many hits that their significance could not be ignored.[7]

Words of the YearEdit

Year Word Definition
2003 democracy (noun) State governed by the people or by officials elected by the people.[8]
2004 blog (noun) Online journal where the writer presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs.[9]
2005 integrity (noun) Adherence to moral or ethic principles; incorruptibility.[10]
2006 truthiness (noun) Truth coming from the gut, not books; preferring to believe what you wish to believe, rather than what is known to be true.[11]
2007 w00t (interjection) Expressing joy.[12]
2008 bailout (noun) A rescue from financial distress.[13]
2009 admonish (verb) to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner.[14]
2010 austerity (noun) Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.
2011 pragmatic (adjective) Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.
2012 socialism (noun) Any of various economic and political philosophies that support social equality, collective decision-making, distribution of income based on contribution and public ownership of productive capital and natural resources, as advocated by socialists.
capitalism (noun) A socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state.
2013 science (noun) Knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation.
2014 culture (noun) The beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.
2015 -ism (suffix) A suffix that forms abstract nouns of action, state, condition, doctrine.
2016 surreal (adjective) Marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream.
2017 feminism (noun) The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.
2018 justice (noun) The maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.
2019 they (pronoun) Used to refer to a single person whose gender is intentionally not revealed, or —Used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary.[15]
2020 pandemic (noun) An outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population.
2021 vaccine (noun) A preparation that is administered (as by injection) to stimulate the body’s immune response against a specific infectious agent or disease.
2022 gaslighting (noun) A psychological manipulation of a person usually over an extended period of time that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator

Full list by yearEdit

2003Edit

Rank Word[16] Definition

1

 democracy (noun) State governed by the people or by officials elected by the people.[8]

2

 quagmire (noun) Soft, muddy land; a predicament[17]

3

 quarantine (noun) Period of time in which a person, animal, or ship that could possibly be carrying infection is kept apart;[18] a period of 40 days.[19]

4

 matrix (noun) Something from which something else originates, develops, or takes form;[20] a mold or die; an electroplated impression of a phonograph record used to make duplicate records.[21]
(noun in biology) The substance in which tissue cells are embedded.[22]
(noun in math) The arrangement of a set of quantities in rows and columns.[23]
(noun in geology) Fine-grained rock in which fossils, crystals, or gems are embedded.[22]

5

 marriage (noun) Legally uniting two people as partners; wedlock; a close union or a wedding.[24]

6

 slog (verb) To hit hard or beat heavily; to toil; walk or plod slowly.
(noun) Laborious work; long, tiring walk or march; a heavy blow.[25]

7

 gubernatorial (adjective) Of or relating to a governor.[26]

8

 plagiarism (noun) The act of stealing from another author’s works.[27]

9

 outage (noun) Something lost after delivery or storage; temporary suspension of an operation, especially electric power.[28]

10

 batten (verb) To grow fat, to feed greedily, or to live in luxury at the expense of others;[29] to bolster or fasten with battens.
(noun) A strip fixed to something to hold it firm.[30]

John Morse, president of Merriam-Webster, pointed out that «the most frequently looked up words are not the newest words, not the latest high-tech terms, not the cool new slang.»[6] Instead, these top ten words correlated to breaking news stories and world events in 2003. The top word democracy correlated to the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime,[31] quarantine to a SARS epidemic, and matrix to the film The Matrix Revolutions.[6]

2004Edit

Rank Word[16] Definition

1

 blog (noun) Online journal where the writer presents a record of activities, thoughts, or beliefs.[9]

2

 incumbent (noun) A person that possesses an ecclesiastical benefice or other office.
(adjective) Lying on; resting on a person, obligatory.[32]

3

 electoral (adjective) Pertaining to electors or elections; consisting of electors.[33]

4

 insurgent (noun) A person who rebels or rises against authority.
(adjective) Rising in revolt, refusing to accept authority.[34]

5

 hurricane (noun) Violent, tropical cyclone of the western North Atlantic with wind speeds at or above 72 miles per hour (32 m/s); most severe, intense storm; anything that suggests a violent storm.[35]

6

 cicada (noun) An insect of the family Cicadidae.[36]

7

 peloton (noun) The main group of riders in a bicycle race.[37]

8

 partisan (noun) A supporter of a cause, person, or group, especially a supporter with biased allegiance; a member of a military group harassing an enemy, especially a group engaged in guerilla warfare against an occupying army.[38]

9

 sovereignty (noun) Government free from external control; royal authority; a state’s authority to govern another state.[39]

10

 defenestration (noun) The act of throwing a thing or person out a window.[40]

In 2004, blogs were becoming highly popular and began to influence mainstream media. During the twelve-month period that decides the word of the year, the term blog had the most requests for a definition or explanation, so a new entry was placed in Merriam-Webster’s printed dictionary for 2005. The other words on this list, such as incumbent, electoral, and partisan, were associated with major news events, such as the United States presidential election of 2004 or natural disasters that hit the US.[3]

2005Edit

Rank Word[16] Definition

1

 integrity (noun) Adherence to moral or ethic principles; incorruptibility.[10]

2

 refugee (noun) One who flees for protection from danger or distress; one who flees to another country or place for safety.[41][42]

3

 contempt (noun) Willful disobedience to or open disrespect of a court, judge or legislative body.[10]

4

 filibuster (noun) Using delaying tactics in an attempt to delay or prevent action, especially in a legislative assembly.[10]

5

 insipid (adjective) Lacking in taste; vapid, flat, dull, heavy, and spiritless.[43]

6

 tsunami (noun) Very large ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption.[44]

7

 pandemic (noun) Occurring over a wide geographic area; affecting a large population.[10]

8

 conclave (noun) Assembly of cardinals to elect the Roman Catholic pope; a secret assembly.[45]

9

 levee (noun) A formal reception of guests, as in a royal court; a pier that provides a place to land at a river; an embankment that was made to prevent a river from overflowing.[46]

10

 inept (adjective) Not apt or fitting, inappropriate; lack of judgement, sense, or reason; foolish; bungling or clumsy; incompetent.[47]

For 2005, integrity was the most looked-up word in Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary.[48] According to John Morse, President of Merriam-Webster, the word integrity slowly moved up the list to first place in 2005 because ethics scandals emerged around the United States regarding corporations, government, and sports,[2] such as the CIA leak investigations, scandals in Congress, and disgraced athletes.[10]

Hurricane Katrina, the bird flu, and the death of Pope John Paul II renewed public interest in words such as refugee, tsunami, pandemic, conclave, and levee. The word refugee was also a candidate for the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year; according to Morse, the term gained notoriety as the entire country debated with how to describe people affected by Hurricane Katrina.[2] The debate, over whether refugee was the proper term to describe displaced residents or whether the term was pejorative, summoned several Americans to look up the word in their dictionaries to form their own opinion. The word refugee received more queries in one month than most words in an entire year.[10] The word insipid made the Top 10 list after Simon Cowell described Anthony Fedorov’s performance in American Idol as «pleasant, safe, and a little insipid.»[2] At number 10 is inept, a word that received a lot of attention after the days when President George W. Bush delivered a live prime time news conference that came to an awkward end when some television networks cut him off to return to their regularly scheduled programs.[49]

2006Edit

Rank Word[16] Definition

1

 truthiness (noun) Truth coming from the gut, not books; preferring to believe what you wish to believe, rather than what is known to be true.[11]

2

 google (verb) Using the Google search engine to look up information about a person.[50]

3

 decider (noun) A person who settles things in dispute or doubt.[51]

4

 war (noun) A contest of armed forces between nations, countries, or parties.
(verb) To be in conflict or state of opposition.
(adjective) Related to, of, belonging to, used in, or due to such a contest or conflict.[52]

5

 insurgent (noun) A person who rebels or rises against authority.
(adjective) Rising in revolt, refusing to accept authority.[34]

6

 terrorism (noun) Use of violence or threats to intimidate or coerce a person, especially for political purposes.[53]

7

 vendetta (noun) A blood feud;[54] prolonged and bitter feud, rivalry, or contention.[55]

8

 sectarian (adjective) Pertaining to factions united under one doctrine, such as religious denominations;[56][57] narrow-minded.[58]

9

 quagmire (noun) Soft, wet, boggy land;[59] a situation from which extrication is difficult.[60]

10

 corruption (noun) Lack of integrity or honesty; decay; impairment of virtue and moral principles; undermining moral integrity; inducement by a public official with improper means to violate duties, for example, bribery.[61]

After online visitors chose truthiness in a five-to-one majority vote as the Word of the Year of 2006,[62] Merriam-Webster received a large amount of publicity.[4] This was the first year in which Merriam-Webster used online voting to decide its Word of the Year.[63] The term was created by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central in The Colbert Report’s first episode,[64] which took place in October 2005,[65] to describe things that he fervently believes to be the case regardless of the facts.[66] In addition, truthiness became the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year for 2005.[63]

2007Edit

Rank Word[12] Definition

1

 w00t (interjection) Expressing joy.[12]

2

 Facebook (verb) To post a picture or other information to profile pages at the trademarked social networking website Facebook.[67]

3

 conundrum (noun) A riddle whose answer is or involves a pun; question or problem with only a conjectural answer; intricate and difficult problem.[68]

4

 quixotic (adjective) Foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; loftily romantic or extravagantly chivalrous; capricious or unpredictable.[69]

5

 blamestorm (verb) To hold a discussion in order to assign blame to a person for a failure.[70]

6

 sardoodledom (noun) «A play with an overly contrived and melodramatic plot.»[71]

7

 apathetic (adjective) No feeling or passion, indifferent.[72]

8

 Pecksniffian (adjective) Hypocritically benevolent.[73]

9

 hypocrite (noun) Person who pretends to have virtues, beliefs, or principles that he or she does not actually possess.[74]

10

 charlatan (noun) A person who pretends to have more knowledge and skill than he or she actually possesses.[75]

John Morse, President of Merriam-Webster, said that the word w00t was a good choice because it «blends whimsy and new technology».[76] Spelled with two zeros in leetspeak, w00t reflects a new direction in the English language led by a generation raised on video games and cell phone text messaging.[77] While the word itself has not been published in its printed dictionary yet, Merriam-Webster claims that its presence in the Open Dictionary and the honors it’s been awarded gives w00t a better chance at becoming an official word.[78][79] It originally became popular in online gaming forums and is now used as an expression of excitement and joy. The word is also considered an acronym in the online gaming world for the phrase We owned the other team.[67] This word was also used in the 1990 film Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts exclaimed «Woot, woot, woot!» to her date’s friends during a polo match.[80]

Placing second in 2007’s contest, facebook created an unofficial verb out of the website Facebook.[67] Founded in 2004, Facebook is a social network that allows its users to create a profile page and forge links with other friends and acquaintances.[81]

2008Edit

Rank Word[13] Definition

1

 bailout (noun) A rescue from financial distress.[13]

2

 vet (verb) To provide veterinary care for an animal or medical care for a person; to subject a person or animal to a physical examination or checkup; to subject to expert appraisal or correction; to evaluate for possible approval or acceptance.[82]

3

 socialism (noun) economic or political theory advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods; society in which there is no private property; a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done.[83]

4

 maverick (noun) unbranded range animal, especially a motherless calf; an independent individual who does not go along with a group or party.[84]

5

 bipartisan (adjective) of, relating to, or involving members of two parties; specifically, marked by or involving cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two major political parties.[85]

6

 trepidation (noun) A tremor; apprehension.[86]

7

 precipice (noun) Very steep or overhanging place; a hazardous situation.[87]

8

 rogue (noun) Vagrant or tramp; dishonest, worthless, or mischievous person; horse inclined to shirk or misbehave; individual with a chance and usually inferior biological variation.[88]

9

 misogyny (noun) Hatred of women.[89]

10

 turmoil (noun) a state or condition of extreme confusion, agitation, or commotion.[90]

2009Edit

Rank Word[14] Definition

1

 admonish (verb) to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner[14]

2

 emaciated (verb) to have wasted away physically[91]

3

 empathy (noun) the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this[92]

4

 furlough (noun) a leave of absence from duty granted especially to a soldier; also : a document authorizing such a leave of absence.[93]

5

 inaugurate (verb) to induct into an office with suitable ceremonies[94]

6

 nugatory (adjective) of little or no consequence[95]

7

 pandemic (adjective) occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population[96]

8

 philanderer (noun) : one who has casual or illicit sex with a woman or with many women[97]

9

 repose (verb) to lie at rest[98]

10

 rogue (adjective) corrupt, dishonest[99]

2010Edit

Rank Word[100] Definition

1

 austerity (noun) Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.

2

 pragmatic (adjective) Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.

3

 moratorium (noun) A suspension of an ongoing activity.

4

 socialism (noun) Any of various economic and political philosophies that support social equality, collective decision-making, distribution of income based on contribution and public ownership of productive capital and natural resources, as advocated by socialists.

5

 bigot (noun) One who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices.

6

 doppelganger (noun) A ghostly double of a living person, especially one that haunts such a person; An evil twin; A remarkably similar double; A person who has the same name as another; A fantastic monster that takes the forms of people, usually after killing them.

7

 shellacking (noun) A heavy defeat, drubbing, or beating; used particularly in sports and political contexts.

8

 ebullient (adjective) Boiling, agitated; enthusiastic, high-spirited.

9

 dissident (noun) A person who formally opposes the current political structure, opposes the political group in power, opposes the policies of the political group in power, or opposes current laws.

10

 furtive (adjective) Stealthy; Exhibiting guilty or evasive secrecy.

Austerity was the most searched-for word of 2010. Interest in the word reached its highest point around May 1,[101] the day the Greek government announced a series of austerity measures, but its popularity remained strong throughout the year. Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster editor-at-large, said: «Austerity clearly resonates with many people. We often hear it used in the context of government measures, but we also apply it to our own personal finances and what is sometimes called the new normal.» Barack Obama used the word shellacking in November 2010, when acknowledging his party’s losses in the US mid-term elections,[102] and lookups of ebullient peaked in October, as thirty-three Chilean miners were successfully rescued after 69 days trapped underground.[103]

2011Edit

Rank Word[104] Definition

1

 pragmatic (adjective) Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory.

2

 ambivalence (noun) The coexistence of opposing attitudes or feelings (such as love and hate) towards a person, object or idea; A state of uncertainty or indecisiveness.

3

 insidious (adjective) Producing harm in a stealthy, often gradual, manner; Intending to entrap; alluring but harmful.

4

 didactic (adjective) Instructive or intended to teach or demonstrate, especially with regard to morality; Excessively moralizing.

5

 austerity (noun) Severity of manners or life; extreme rigor or strictness; harsh discipline.

6

 diversity (noun) The quality of being diverse or different; difference or unlikeness.

7

 capitalism (noun) A socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state.

8

 socialism (noun) Any of various economic and political philosophies that support social equality, collective decision-making, distribution of income based on contribution and public ownership of productive capital and natural resources, as advocated by socialists.

9

 vitriol (noun) Bitterly abusive language.

10

 après moi le déluge (foreign term) «After me, the deluge», a remark attributed to Louis XV of France in reference to the impending end of a functioning French monarchy and predicting the French Revolution.

The word pragmatic was looked up on Merriam-Webster’s website an unprecedented number of times in 2011.[104] Although the popularity of the word wasn’t linked to any specific event, it received the greatest amount of interest in the latter half of the year, as the United States Congress introduced the Budget Control Act, and its Supercommittee began to craft deficit-reduction plans.[105] Ambivalence was also a popular word throughout the year; John Moore, President of Merriam-Webster, remarked: «We think it reflects the public attitude toward a wide range of issues, including the economy, the ongoing debates in Washington, the presidential election, and most recently the race for the Republican Party nomination.» The term vitriol was used frequently in the wake of the January 2011 Tucson shooting, which led to a national debate about political rhetoric.[104]

In November 2011, political commentator David Gergen rounded off a CNN article (entitled «Have they gone nuts in Washington?») with the phrase «après moi, le déluge».[106] The expression, attributed to Louis XV, typifies the attitude of those who don’t care about the future, because they won’t be around to face the consequences of their actions.[107]

2012Edit

Rank Word[103] Definition

1

 socialism (noun) Any of various economic and political philosophies that support social equality, collective decision-making, distribution of income based on contribution and public ownership of productive capital and natural resources, as advocated by socialists.
capitalism (noun) A socio-economic system based on private property rights, including the private ownership of resources or capital, with economic decisions made largely through the operation of a market unregulated by the state.

2

 touché (interjection) An acknowledgement of the success, appropriateness or superiority of an argument or discussion.

3

 bigot (noun) One who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices.

4

 marriage (noun) The state of being married; A union of two or more people that creates a family tie and carries legal and/or social rights and responsibilities; A ceremony in which people wed.

5

 democracy (noun) Rule by the people, especially as a form of government, either directly or through elected representatives; A government under the direct or representative rule of the people of its jurisdiction; Belief in political freedom and equality; the «spirit of democracy».

6

 professionalism (noun) The status, methods, character or standards expected of a professional or of a professional organization, such as reliability, discretion, evenhandedness, and fair play.

7

 globalization (noun) The process of going to a more interconnected world; The process of making world economy dominated by capitalist models.

8

 malarkey (noun) Nonsense; rubbish.

9

 schadenfreude (noun) Malicious enjoyment derived from observing someone else’s misfortune.

10

 meme (noun) Any unit of cultural information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another; A thought, idea, joke, or concept that spreads online, often virally, in the form of e.g. an image, a video, an email, an animation, or music.

The popularity of many of the words on Merriam-Webster’s 2012 list were influenced by the commentary and debate that surrounded that year’s US presidential election. Socialism and capitalism were frequently referred to during the party conventions and the televised debates; interest in socialism spiked on the day of the election – November 6, 2012.[103] The word malarkey was used several times by Joe Biden during his vice-presidential debate with Paul Ryan on October 11,[108] and meme captured the public imagination after a remark made by Mitt Romney about «binders full of women», on October 16, went viral.[109]

Touché remained a popular word throughout the year. This was partly as a result of a new technology of the same name being announced by Disney Research; however, John Morse, President of Merriam-Webster, suggested that touché was «simply a word enjoying a period of increased popular use, perhaps as a byproduct of the growing amount of verbal jousting in our culture, especially through social media».[103]

2013Edit

Rank Word[110] Definition

1

 science (noun) Knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation.

2

 cognitive (adjective) Of, relating to, being, or involving conscious intellectual activity.

3

 rapport (noun) A friendly relationship.

4

 communication (noun) The act or process of using words, sounds, signs, or behaviors to express or exchange information or to express your ideas, thoughts, feelings, etc., to someone else.

5

 niche (noun) A job, activity, etc., that is very suitable for someone; The situation in which a business’s products or services can succeed by being sold to a particular kind or group of people

6

 ethic (noun) Rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad.

7

 paradox (noun) Something (such as a situation) that is made up of two opposite things and that seems impossible but is actually true or possible.

8

 visceral (adjective) Coming from strong emotions and not from logic or reason.

9

 integrity (noun) The quality of being honest and fair; The state of being complete or whole.

10

 metaphor (noun) a word or phrase for one thing that is used to refer to another thing in order to show or suggest that they are similar; An object, activity, or idea that is used as a symbol of something else

The popularity of the word science in 2013 was driven by debates around climate change and science in education. Further debates around pseudoscience and whether science can answer all of life’s questions further drove its popularity.

Cognitive’s popularity was principally driven by ongoing issues with relation to concussion in American professional sports. The popularity of rapport and communication was principally driven by Edward Snowden’s revelations around the NSA’s global surveillance.[110]

2014Edit

Rank Word[111] Definition[112]

1

 culture (noun) The beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time.

2

 nostalgia (noun) Pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again.

3

 insidious (adjective) Causing harm in a way that is gradual or not easily noticed.

4

 legacy (noun) Something that happened in the past or that comes from someone in the past.

5

 feminism (noun) The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities

6

 je ne sais quoi (noun) A pleasant quality that is hard to describe.

7

 innovation (noun) A new idea, device, or method; the act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods.

8

 surreptitious (adjective) Done in a secret way.

9

 autonomy (noun) The state of existing or acting separately from others; the power or right of a country, group, etc., to govern itself.

10

 morbidity (noun) The quality or state of being morbid

[111]

2015Edit

Rank Word[113] Definition

1

 -ism (suffix) A suffix that forms abstract nouns of action, state, condition, doctrine

2

 Socialism (noun) Any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

3

 Fascism (noun) A political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader

4

 Racism (noun) A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

5

 Feminism (noun) The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities

6

 Communism (noun) A theory advocating elimination of private property; a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed

7

 Capitalism (noun) An economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market

8

 Terrorism (noun) The systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion

9

 Marriage (noun) The legally or formally recognized union of a man and a woman (or, in some jurisdictions, two people of the same sex) as partners in a relationship

10

 Hypocrite (noun) A person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings

The suffix -ism goes all the way back to Ancient Greek, and was used in Latin and medieval French on its way to English. Originally, it turned a verb into a noun: think of baptize and baptism, criticize and criticism, or plagiarize and plagiarism. It has since acquired many other uses, including identifying a religion or practice (Calvinism, vegetarianism), a prejudice based on a specific quality (sexism, ageism), an adherence to a system (stoicism, altruism), a condition based on excess of something (alcoholism), or a characteristic feature or trait (colloquialism).[113]

2016Edit

Rank Word[114] Definition

1

 Surreal (adjective) Marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream

2017Edit

Rank Word[115] Definition

1

 Feminism (noun) The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes

2018Edit

Rank Word[116] Definition

1

 Justice (noun) The maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments

2019Edit

Rank Word[117][118] Definition

1

 they (pronoun) —Used to refer to a single person whose gender is intentionally not revealed, or —Used to refer to a single person whose gender identity is nonbinary[15]

2

 quid pro quo (noun) “Something given or received for something else,” or «A deal arranging a quid pro quo.”

3

 impeach (verb) “To charge with a crime or misdemeanor” and “To cast doubt on.”

4

 crawdad (noun) Refers to the aquatic animal that looks like a small lobster and lives in rivers and streams—i.e. to what’s also known as a crawfish or crayfish.

5

 egregious (adjective) Modern English: «Conspicuously bad;» Original meaning: «Distinguished» or «Eminent.»

6

 the (definite article) Pronounced /ðə/ before words that begin with consonants («the governor») and /ði:/ before words that begin with a vowel; /ði:/ can also indicate emphasis or suggest uniqueness (THE Ohio State University).

7

 snitty (adjective) Disagreeably ill-tempered.

8

 tergiversation (noun) “Evasion of straightforward action or clear-cut statement,” or “Desertion of a cause, position, party, or faith.”

9

 camp (noun) «A style or mode of personal or creative expression that is absurdly exaggerated and often fuses elements of high and popular culture» or «Something so outrageously artificial, affected, inappropriate, or out-of-date as to be considered amusing.»

10

 exculpate (verb) To clear from alleged fault or guilt.

Searches for they increased by 313% in 2019 over 2018; the use of they to refer to one person whose gender identity is nonbinary was added to the Merriam-Webster.com dictionary in September 2019. Quid pro quo is most often used in legal texts, and interest in the term is primarily attributed to the Trump–Ukraine scandal. Interest in crawdad is attributed to the novel Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. A Boeing pilot used egregious in describing an issue with the Boeing 737 MAX groundings. The Ohio State University tried to patent the word The. Attorney General William Barr used snitty to describe the Mueller Report; Merriam-Webster describes the word as «a child of the 1970s.»[15] On January 23, The Washington Post columnist George Will wrote, «During the government shutdown, Graham’s tergiversations—sorry, this is the precise word—have amazed.»[15] A fashion exhibit at The Met sparked interest in camp.

2020Edit

Rank Word[119] Definition

1

 Pandemic (noun) An outbreak of a disease that occurs over a wide geographic area (such as multiple countries or continents) and typically affects a significant proportion of the population.

2

 Coronavirus (noun) Any of a family (Coronaviridae) of large single-stranded RNA viruses that have a lipid envelope studded with club-shaped spike proteins, infect birds and many mammals including humans, and include the causative agents of MERS, SARS, and COVID-19.

3

 Defund (verb) To withdraw funding from.

4

 Mamba (noun) Any of several chiefly arboreal venomous green or black elapid snakes (genus Dendroaspis) of sub-Saharan Africa.

5

 Kraken (noun) A Scandinavian sea monster.

6

 Quarantine (noun) A restraint upon the activities or communication of persons or the transport of goods designed to prevent the spread of disease or pests.

7

 Antebellum (adjective) Existing before a war, especially the American Civil War.

8

 Schadenfreude (noun) Enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others.

9

 Asymptomatic (adjective) Not causing, marked by, or presenting with signs or symptoms of infection, illness, or disease.

10

 Irregardless (adjective) Nonstandard form of regardless.

11

 Icon (noun) A person or thing widely admired especially for having great influence or significance in a particular sphere.

12

 Malarkey (noun) Insincere or foolish talk.

Pandemic, coronavirus, quarantine, and asymptomatic are all in reference to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the George Floyd protests of May 2020 and beyond, many Black Lives Matter supporters called on local governments to «defund the police», leading defund to have a 6,059% increase in lookups from 2019 to 2020;[120] ensuing national conversations about references to the American Civil War led to the country music trio formerly known as Lady Antebellum changing their name to Lady A, ensuing a similar 885% increase in lookups.[121] Mamba and kraken are both sports references, to «The Black Mamba» Kobe Bryant who died in January 2020[122] and the expansion National Hockey League franchise Seattle Kraken,[123] respectively. Actress Jamie Lee Curtis Tweeted in July 2020 that Merriam-Webster had recently added irregardless, a double negative, to the dictionary, although the dictionary had entered it in 1934.[124] A frequent entry in victorious US Presidential candidate Joe Biden’s vocabulary, malarkey saw its second appearance in the top 10, the other being in 2012 during his re-election campaign for Vice President.[108]

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  106. ^ Gergen, David (November 21, 2011). «Have they gone nuts in Washington?». CNN. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  107. ^ «Après moi le déluge». Merriam-Webster. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  108. ^ a b «Malarkey». Merriam-Webster. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  109. ^ «Meme». Merriam-Webster. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
  110. ^ a b «Word of the Year 2013». Merriam-Webster. Retrieved December 5, 2013.
  111. ^ a b «Word of the Year 2014». Merriam-Webster. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  112. ^ «Merriam-Webster Online». merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster Dictionaries. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
  113. ^ a b «Gallery: Word of the Year 2015». Retrieved 2016-12-02.
  114. ^ «Word of the Year 2016».
  115. ^ «Merriam-Webster’s 2017 Words of the Year».
  116. ^ «Word of the Year 2018».
  117. ^ This gender-neutral pronoun beat impeach and ‘quid pro quo’ as Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year by Marrissa Higgins, Daily Kos, Dec 10, 2019
  118. ^ «Merriam-Webster’s Words of the Year 2019». www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  119. ^ «Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year 2020». www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2021-04-16.
  120. ^ «Defund». merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster Dictionaries. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  121. ^ «Antebellum». merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster Dictionaries. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  122. ^ «Mamba». merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster Dictionaries. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  123. ^ «Kraken». merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster Dictionaries. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  124. ^ «Irregardless». merriam-webster.com. Merriam-Webster Dictionaries. Retrieved 16 August 2021.

External linksEdit

  • Merriam-Webster Online
Источник

The word(s) of the year, sometimes capitalized as Word(s) of the Year and abbreviated WOTY or WotY, refers to any of various assessments as to the most important word(s) or expression(s) in the public sphere during a specific year.

Contents

  • 1 United States
    • 1.1 2010 selections
    • 1.2 2009 selections
    • 1.3 2008 selections
    • 1.4 2007 selection
    • 1.5 2006 selection
  • 2 Similar endeavors
    • 2.1 A Word a Year
    • 2.2 Top Words, Phrases and Names of the Year
  • 3 Germany
  • 4 See also
  • 5 Further reading
  • 6 References
  • 7 External links

United States

Since 1991, the American Dialect Society (ADS) has designated one or more words or terms to be the «Word of the Year» in the United States.

This is in addition to its «Word of the 1990s» (web), «Word of the 20th Century» (jazz), «Word of the Past Millennium» (she), and «Word of the Decade (2000-2009)» (google as a verb). The society also selects words in other categories that vary from year to year, such as most original, most unnecessary, most outrageous and most likely to succeed.

A number of words chosen by the ADS are also on the lists of Merriam-Webster’s Words of the Year and the Global Language Monitor.

  • 1990: bushlips (similar to «bullshit» – stemming from President George H. W. Bush’s 1988 «Read my lips: no new taxes» broken promise)
  • 1991: mother of all (as in Saddam Hussein’s foretold «Mother of all battles»)
  • 1992: Not! (meaning «just kidding»)
  • 1993: information superhighway
  • 1994: cyber, morph (to change form)
  • 1995: web and (to) newt (to act aggressively as a newcomer, like Speaker Newt Gingrich during the Contract with America)
  • 1996: mom (as in «soccer mom»)
  • 1997: millennium bug
  • 1998: e- (as in «e-mail» or «e-commerce»)
  • 1999: Y2K
  • 2000: chad (from the 2000 presidential election controversy in Florida)
  • 2001[1]: 9-11
  • 2002[2]: weapons of mass destruction (WMD)
  • 2003[3]: metrosexual
  • 2004[4]: red state, blue state, purple state (from the United States presidential election, 2004)
  • 2005[5] : truthiness (popularized on The Colbert Report)
  • 2006[6]: plutoed (demoted or devalued, as happened to the former planet Pluto)
  • 2007[7]: subprime (an adjective used to describe a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage, or investment)
  • 2008[8]: bailout (in the specific sense of the rescue by the government of companies on the brink of failure, including large players in the banking industry.)
  • 2009[9]: tweet (noun, a short, timely message sent via the Twitter.com service, and verb, the act of sending such a message)
  • 2010[10]: app (noun, an abbreviated form of application, a software program for a computer or phone operating system)

2010 selections

After a run-off with «nom,» app was named the 2010 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society. [11]

  • Most Useful: nom (Onomatopoetic form connoting eating, esp. pleasurably. Can be used as an interjection or noun to refer to delicious food.)
  • Most Creative: prehab (Preemptive enrollment in a rehab facility to prevent relapse of an abuse problem.)
  • Most Unnecessary: refudiate (Blend of refute and repudiate used by Sarah Palin on Twitter.)
  • Most Outrageous: gate rape (Pejorative term for invasive new airport pat-down procedure.)
  • Most Euphemistic: kinetic event (Pentagon term for violent attacks on troops in Afghanistan.)
  • Most Likely to Succeed: trend (Verb: to exhibit a burst of online buzz.)
  • Least Likely to Succeed: culturomics (Research project from Google analyzing the history of language and culture.)
  • Fan Words: gleek (A fan of the TV show “Glee” [Glee + geek])

2009 selections

Along with tweet being named Word of the Year for 2009, the American Dialect Society named google (a generic form of «Google,» meaning «to search the Internet») as its word of the decade.[12]

  • Most Useful: fail (A noun or interjection used when something is egregiously unsuccessful. Usually written as “FAIL!”)
  • Most Creative: Dracula sneeze (Covering one’s mouth with the crook of one’s elbow when sneezing, seen as similar to popular portrayals of the vampire Dracula, in which he hides the lower half of his face with a cape.)
  • Most Unnecessary: sea kittens (fish [according to PETA])
  • Most Outrageous: death panel (A supposed committee of doctors and/or bureaucrats who would decide which patients were allowed to receive treatment, ostensibly leaving the rest to die.)
  • Most Euphemistic: hike the Appalachian trail (To go away to have sex with one’s illicit lover. Follows on a statement by South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, who went to Argentina to visit his mistress.)
  • Most Likely to Succeed: twenty-ten (A pronunciation of the year 2010, as opposed to saying “two thousand ten” or “two thousand and ten.” [twenty- as prefix until 2099])
  • Least Likely to Succeed: name of the decade 2000-2009, such as Naughties, Aughties, Oughties, etc.

2008 selections

The chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society, Grant Barrett, said «When you vote for bailout, I guess you’re really voting for ‘hope’ and ‘change,’ too. Though you’d think a room full of pointy-headed intellectuals could come up with something more exciting.” In addition to the overall Word of the Year, the American Dialect Society named other top words of 2008 [13]

  • Most Useful: Barack Obama (both names as combining forms)
  • Most Creative: recombobulation area (An area at Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee in which passengers that have just passed through security screening can get their clothes and belongings back in order.)
  • Most Unnecessary: moofing (From “mobile out of office,” meaning working on the go with a laptop and cell phone. Created by a PR firm.)
  • Most Outrageous: terrorist fist jab (A knuckle-to-knuckle fist bump, or “dap,” traditionally performed between two black people[citation needed] as a sign of friendship, celebration or agreement. It was called the “terrorist fist jab” by the newscaster E. D. Hill, formerly of Fox News.)
  • Most Euphemistic: scooping technician (A person whose job it is to pick up dog poop.)
  • Most Likely to Succeed: shovel-ready (Used to describe infrastructure projects that can be started quickly, when funds become available.)
  • Least Likely to Succeed: PUMA (An acronym for Party Unity My Ass, used by Democrats who were disaffected after Hillary Clinton failed to secure a sufficient number of delegates. It was later said to stand for People United Means Action.)
  • Election-Related Word: maverick (A person who is beholden to no one. Widely used by the Republican Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates, John McCain and Sarah Palin. Also in the adjectival form mavericky, used by Tina Fey portraying Palin on Saturday Night Live.)

The Global Language Monitor on December 1 announced[14] that change was its top word of 2008, followed by bailout and Obamamania. It noted that if it included ‘obama-‘ as a root word or word stem, Obama- in its many forms (ObamaMania, Obamamentum, Obmanomics, Obamacize, Obamanation, etc.), would have overtaken both change, and bailout for the top spot. It also named financial tsunami as the top phrase, and Barack Obama as the top name.[15]

New World Dictionary has announced its short list for 2008’s Word of the Year [16] and is inviting public opinion on the following final five contenders:

  • leisure sickness (noun): a purported syndrome, not universally recognized by psychologists, by which some people (typically characterized as workaholics) are more likely to report feeling ill during weekends and vacations than when working[17]
  • overshare (verb): to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval[18]
  • cyberchondriac (noun): a hypochondriac who imagines that he or she has a particular disease based on medical information gleaned through the Internet[19]
  • selective ignorance (noun): the practice of selectively ignoring distracting, irrelevant, or otherwise unnecessary information received, such as through e-mail and news reports.[20]
  • youthanasia (noun): “ … the controversial practice of performing a battery of age-defying medical procedures to end lifeless skin and wrinkles; advocated by some as a last-resort measure to put the chronically youth-obsessed out of their misery … Think of it as mercy lifting.” —Armand Limnander, New York Times[21]

Webster’s New World Dictionary’s final Word of the Year selection will be announced via streaming video by Editor-in-Chief Mike Agnes on December 1, 2008.

The New Oxford American Dictionary selected hypermiling, a term used in North America that refers to a set of techniques used to maximize fuel economy, as its Word of the Year for 2008.[22]

2007 selection

«Subprime» was a popular choice for the 2007 word of the year and received over two-thirds of the votes cast. The meaning of «subprime» changed during the last quarter of the 20th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, in 1976 a subprime loan was one with a below-prime interest rate; it wasn’t until 1993 that «subprime» began referring to the rating of the borrower.[23]

Other contenders were:[24]

  • green- «designates environmental concern, as in greenwashing»
  • surge «an increase in troops in a war zone», as in the Iraq War troop surge of 2007
  • Facebook all parts of speech
  • waterboarding «an interrogation technique in which the subject is immobilized and doused with water to simulate drowning»
  • Googlegänger «a person with your name who shows up when you google yourself» (portmanteau of Google and Doppelgänger)
  • wide stance, «to have a —»: «To be hypocritical or to express two conflicting points of view» (in reference to Senator Larry Craig after his 2007 arrest at an airport)

2006 selection

«Plutoed» beat «climate canary» in a run-off vote for the 2006 word of the year. A «climate canary» is something whose poor health indicates a looming environmental catastrophe.

«It was good that the society focused on a genuine scientific concern, though I believe the nomination came in from outer space,» said committee chairman Professor Wayne Glowka.

Other words in the running for 2006 were:

  • flog — «an advertisement disguised as a blog or web log»
  • The Decider — a political catch phrase said by former United States President George W. Bush
  • prohibited liquids — «fluids that cannot be transported by passengers on airplanes»
  • macaca — «an American citizen treated as an alien»; «macaca» was also the Global Language Monitor’s most politically incorrect word for 2006.[25]

Similar endeavors

A Word a Year

Since 2004, Susie Dent, an English lexicographer has published a column, «A Word a Year», in which she chooses a single word from each of the last 101 years to represent preoccupations of the time. Susie Dent notes that the list is subjective.[26][27][28] Each year she gives a completely different set of words.

Since Susie Dent works for the Oxford University Press, her words of choice are often incorrectly referred to as «Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year».

Top Words, Phrases and Names of the Year

Since 2000, the Global Language Monitor (GLM) has been selecting the Top Ten Words, Phrases and Names of the Year.[29] To select these words and phrases it claims to use a statistical analysis of language usage in the worldwide print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the Blogosphere, including Social media, though several linguists and lexicographers have charged that its mathematical methodologies are flawed.

GLM announced its Top Words of the Year for 2011 on November 11, 2011. «‘Occupy’ is the Top Word, ‘Arab Spring’ the Top Phrase and ‘Steve Jobs’ the Top Name of 2011 in its annual global survey of the English language. Occupy was followed by deficit, fracking, drone, and non-veg. Kummerspeck, haboob, 3Q, Trustafarians, and (the other) 99 rounded out the Top 10.[30],

Germany

In Germany, the Wort des Jahres has been selected since 1972 (i.e., for the year of 1971 and up) by the Society of the German Language.[31]

In addition, the Unwort des Jahres (Unword of the Year or No-no Word of the Year) has been nominated since 1991, as the word in the public speech which is deemed inappropriate and an insult to human dignity.[32] See «Überfremdung» for an example.

Many words are sometimes nominated for both titles.

See also

  • Neologism
  • Language Report from Oxford University Press
  • List of Merriam–Webster’s Words of the Year
  • Top Words of the Year from Global Language Monitor

Further reading

  • John Ayto, «A Century of New Words», Series: Oxford Paperback Reference (2007) ISBN 0-19-921369-0
  • John Ayto, «Twentieth Century Words

References

  1. ^ American Dialect Society
  2. ^ American Dialect Society
  3. ^ American Dialect Society
  4. ^ American Dialect Society
  5. ^ American Dialect Society
  6. ^ American Dialect Society
  7. ^ American Dialect Society
  8. ^ American Dialect Society
  9. ^ American Dialect Society
  10. ^ American Dialect Society
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ [2]
  13. ^ American Dialect Society
  14. ^ Top Words of ‘08: Change beats Bailout and ObamaMania
  15. ^ Change judged top word of 2008
  16. ^ Webster’s New World Dictionary: Word of the Year Candidates, 2008
  17. ^ Leisure Sickness — Webster’s New World Dictionary’s 2008 Word of the Year Candidate
  18. ^ Overshare — Webster’s New World Dictionary’s 2008 Word of the Year Candidate
  19. ^ Cyberchondriac — Webster’s New World Dictionary’s 2008 Word of the Year Candidate
  20. ^ Selective Ignorance — Webster’s New World Dictionary’s 2008 Word of the Year Candidate
  21. ^ Youthanasia — Webster’s New World Dictionary’s 2008 Word of the Year Candidate
  22. ^ Hypermiling — New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year, 2008
  23. ^ Notes on OED’s June 2008 release of new words from the Oxford English Dictionary website
  24. ^ http://www.americandialect.org/Word-of-the-Year_2007.pdf
  25. ^ The Global Language Monitor
  26. ^ A Word a Year: 1906-2006
  27. ^ A Word a Year: 1905-2005
  28. ^ A Word a Year: 1904-2004
  29. ^ The Global Language Monitor » History of the Top Words of 2009 – 2000
  30. ^ Steve Jobs is the top Name of 2011
  31. ^ German Word of the Year
  32. ^ «Unword of the year» in Germany

External links

  • Official Word of the Year Website for Webster’s New World Dictionary
  • Austrian Word of the Year
  • GLM’s Top words from 2000 — present
  • Liechtenstein Word of the Year
  • Switzerland Word of the Year
  • Canadian Word of the Year
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