In its 20th annual words of the year vote, the American Dialect Society voted “tweet” (noun, a short message sent via the Twitter.com service, and verb, the act of sending such a message) as the word of the year and “ google” (a generic form of “Google,” meaning “to search the Internet) as its word of the decade.
Presiding at the Jan. 8 voting session in Baltimore were ADS Executive Secretary Allan Metcalf of MacMurray College, and Barrett, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society editorial director of online dictionary Wordnik.com. Barrett is also the editor of the column “Among the New Words” in the society’s quarterly academic journal American Speech.
“Both words are, in the end, products of the Information Age, where every person has the ability to satisfy curiosity and to broadcast to a select following, both via the Internet.” [Grant] Barrett, [chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society editorial director of online dictionary Wordnik.com] said. “I really thought blog would take the honors in the word of the decade category, but more people google than blog, don’t they? Plus, many people think ‘blog’ just sounds ugly. Maybe Google’s trademark lawyers would have preferred it, anyway.”
-er A suffix used in such words as birther, someone who questions whether Obama was born in the United States; deather, someone who believes the government has death panels in its healthcare reform plan; Tenther, someone who believes the Federal government is mostly illegal because it usurps rights which belong to the States, in violation of the 10th Amendment; and truther, someone who doubts the official account of the 9/11 attacks.
fail A noun or interjection describing something egregiously unsuccessful. Usually used as an interjection: “FAIL!”
H1N1 The virus that causes swine flu.
public option A government-run healthcare insurance program, desired by some to be part of the country’s
healthcare reform.
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.
Other Nominees for Word of the Decade Were:
9/11 The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Pronounced “nine eleven.”
blog A web site for publishing a chronological and ongoing series of related entries, especially when they are all
by the same person(s) or on the same topic. Also a productive combining form: blogosphere, blogerati, milblog, blogola.
green Related to ecological or environmental conservation or protection. Also a productive combining form:
greenwashing, green collar, etc.
text Verb: to send a text message via a mobile phone. Noun: such a message.
war on terror A global effort to prevent terror and terrorists.
Wi-Fi abbreviation. Wireless Fidelity, a group of technical standards enabling the transmission of data over
wireless networks.
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