Social networking provides word of the year

Jake Widman
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 00:21

Your IT - Home IT

Six of the nineteen candidates for the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2009 Word of the Year came from the world of technology. And the winner? "Unfriend."

Each year the editors of the dictionary pick a word of the year. Previous year's winners include "locavore" (one who eats only locally grown food) and "hypermiling" (attempting to get the best possible mileage from your car).

This year the editors chose "unfriend," the act of taking someone off your list of Facebook friends.

According to senior lexicographer Christine Lindberg, "It has both currency and potential longevity....Most 'un-' prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar 'un-' verbs (uncap, unpack), but 'unfriend' is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of 'friend' that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!)."

One other candidate came from social networking: "hashtag," a word prefixed with a # sign that lets Twitter users find tweets on a certain topic.

Other technology-derived words considered were "intexticated," or distracted from driving by texting on a cellphone; "netbook;" "paywall;" and "sexting," the practice of sending sexy texts and pictures.

Candidates also dealt with the economy ("zombie bank," an underfunded bank that continues to operate on government life support, and "funemployed," the status of having fun while not working), politics ("birther," someone who thinks President Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen, and "teabagger," an anti-Obama protester and something else the editors don't mention), environmental concerns ("green state," a U.S. state with strict environmental regulations), and general novelty words ("tramp stamp," a tattoo on a woman's lower back).