Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year are published by Merriam-Webster every year. It consists of the ten most popular words in the English language in a given twelve month period. This list started in 2003, and is published at the end of each year. At first, Merriam-Webster determined its contents by analyzing page hits and popular searches in its web site. Since 2006 the list was determined by an online poll and by suggestions from visitors to the site.[1] Since 2003, two of Merriam Webster's Words of the Year were already dictionary entries at the time they earned their status (democracy in 2003 and integrity in 2005). 2004's Top Word, blog, was added later. The words for 2006 and 2007, truthiness and w00t, respectively, have not yet made it to official dictionaries.[2]
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Words of the Year
2007
As of 2007, w00t stands as the only online gaming and leetspeak term that won the title of Word of the Year.[4] John Morse, President of Merrian-Webster, said that the word was a good choice because it "blends whimsy and new technology".[4] While the word itself hasn't been published in official dictionaries 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.[3] It originally became popular in online gaming forums and is now used as a expression of excitement and joy.[3]
2006
[5] After online visitors chose truthiness in a 5 to 1 majority vote as the Word of the Year,[6] of 2006 Merriam-Webster received a large amount of publicity.[7] The term was created by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central in the Colbert Report's first episode.[8] Coincidentally, truthiness became the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year for 2005.[9]
2005
[5] 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. Hurricane Katrina, the bird flu, and the deaths of Pope John Paul II and Terri Schiavo 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. The word insipid made the Top 10 list after Simon Cowell described Anthony Fedorov's performance as "pleasant, safe, and a little insipid."[10]
2004
[5] 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 was the one with the most requests for a definition or explanation. Because of this, an entry for blog will be placed in Merriam-Webster's printed dictionary for 2005. The other words on this list were associated with major news events, such as the United States presidential election of 2004 or natural disasters that hit the US.[11]
2003
Selection process
When the Words of the Year was started in 2003, Merriam-Webster determined which words would appear on the list by analyzine page hits and popular searches to its web site.[1] For example, the 2004 list was determined by online hits to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Online Thesaurus and to Merriam-WebsterCollegiate.com.[12] Since 2006, 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 of twenty words and phrases that were frequently looked-up on the site and submitted by readers.[7]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster launches 'Word of the Year' online poll. CNET (2007-11-27). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ W00t! There It Is: A quirky online gaming term is crowned Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year. A proud day for geeks everywhere.. Newsweek (2007-12-14). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year 2007. Merriam-Webster (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Word of '07: 'W00t'. Associated Press (2007-12-11). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ a b c d Previous Words of the Year. Merriam-Webster (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2006. Merriam-Webster (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ a b Newman, Andrew Adam. "How Dictionaries Define Publicity: the Word of the Year", The New York Times, 2007-12-10.
- ^ Anonymous. "Truthiness--The Word of the Year", News for You, 2007-01-24.
- ^ Bierma, Nathan. "Talking about the word of the year", Chicago Tribune, 2006-12-27.
- ^ Solomon, Wendy. "The Nation; 'Integrity' Often Questioned in '05; The most-checked word in Webster's online and slang like 'infosnacking' catch linguists' eyes.", Los Angeles Times, 2005-12-25.
- ^ 'Blog' picked as word of the year: The term "blog" has been chosen as the top word of 2004 by a US dictionary publisher.. BBC News (2004-12-01). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
- ^ Merriam-Webster Announces 2004 Words of the Year. Merriam-Webster (2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-29.
