American Dialect Society has announced its words of the year 2013:
WORD OF THE YEAR
* because: introducing a noun, adjective, or other part of speech (e.g., “because reasons,” “because awesome”). 127
slash: used as a coordinating conjunction to mean “and/or” (e.g., “come and visit slash stay”) or “so” (“I love that place, slash can we go there?”). 21
twerk: A mode of dance that involves vigorous booty-shaking and booty-thrusting, usually with the feet planted. 7
Obamacare: term for the Affordable Care Act that has moved from pejorative to matter-of-fact shorthand. 39
selfie: a photo taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone and shared on social media. 20
“Slash” is old and “because reasons” is precious. “Twerk” brings to mind the ridiculous performance of a talentless person that we all need to forget as soon as possible. “Obamacare” is old. I’d vote for “selfie” because I like both the word and the activity that produces it. Do share your thoughts about the list. Do you have any other words you want to nominate?
And here is a new category in this contest:
MOST PRODUCTIVE (new category)
* -shaming: (from slut-shaming) type of public humiliation (fat-shaming, pet-shaming). 98/132
-splaining: (from mansplaining) type of condescending explanation (whitesplaining, journosplaining). 49/68
–coin: (from bitcoin) type of cryptocurrency (peercoin, namecoin, dogecoin). 0
-(el)fie: (from selfie) type of self-portrait (drelfie ‘drunk selfie,’ twofie ‘selfie with two people’). 39
-hack: (from lifehack) type of shortcut to increase productivity. 13
-spo: (from thinspo) type of photo or video montage intended to inspire viewers to lose weight or stay fit (fitspo, sportspo). 1
-shaming and -splaining have existed forever but the ADS is only waking up to this phenomenon now.
There are more categories at the link!
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