Word of the Year
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Word_of_the_Year".

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The word of the year refers to any of various assessments as to the most important word or expression in the public sphere.

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.[1]

In addition, since 1991, the Unwort des Jahres (Unword of the Year or No-no Word of the Year) has been nominated since 1991, the word in the public speech which is deemed inappropriate and an insult to human dignity.[2] See "Überfremdung" for an example.

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), and "Word of the Past Millennium" (she). 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 list of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year.

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:

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.[11]

Other contenders were:[12]

Similar endeavors

A Word a Year

Since 2004, Susie Dent, an English lexicographer publishes 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.[13][14][15] Each year she gives a completely different set of words.

Since Susie Dent is with the Oxford University Press, her words of choice are often incorrectly referred to as "Oxford Dictionary’s Word of the Year".

The Global Language Monitor has been selecting the Top Ten Words of the Year since 2000. To select these words and phrases it uses a statistical analysis of language usage in the worldwide print and electronic media, on the Internet, and throughout the Blogosphere.

See also

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. ^ German Word of the Year
  2. ^ "Unword of the year" in Germany
  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. ^ The Global Language Monitor
  11. ^ Notes on OED's June 2008 release of new words from the Oxford English Dictionary website
  12. ^ http://www.americandialect.org/Word-of-the-Year_2007.pdf
  13. ^ A Word a Year: 1906-2006
  14. ^ A Word a Year: 1905-2005
  15. ^ A Word a Year: 1904-2004

External links
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