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2015 Words of the Year

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dictionary-1423121-639x424Dictionaries like to name their Word of the Year each year to indicate words that have become more popular in that year. It is definitely an interesting look at the American language each year. In 2015, Oxford and Merriam-Webster both chose a Word of the Year as did the American Dialect Society. With apologies to those who may be sensitive to the words that are not used in common language (at least in groups that you may run with), in the name of keeping it on fleek, I felt it was important to list them all so you would have the information uncensored and not with the intention to offend anyone. Let’s look at their choices.

The Oxford dictionary chose not a word at all, but the “Face With Tears of Joy” emoji. It is the first time that a pictograph was chosen over a word “that best reflected the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015.” Just in case you don’t know what that emoji looks like, it is this one:

emoji

The Oxford “short list” included:

  • ad blocker, noun: A piece of software designed to prevent advertisements from appearing on a web page.
  • Brexit, noun: A term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union, from British + exit.
  • Dark Web, noun: The part of the World Wide Web that is only accessible by means of special software, allowing users and website operators to remain anonymous or untraceable.
  • on fleek, adjectival phrase: Extremely good, attractive, or stylish.
  • lumbersexual, noun: A young urban man who cultivates an appearance and style of dress (typified by a beard and check shirt) suggestive of a rugged outdoor lifestyle.
  • refugee, noun: A person who has been forced to leave their country in order to escape war, persecution, or natural disaster.
  • sharing economy, noun: An economic system in which assets or services are shared between private individuals, either for free or for a fee, typically by means of the Internet.
  • they (singular), pronoun: Used to refer to a person of unspecified sex.

2015 was definitely a year of non-traditional “words” chosen as Word of the Year. Merriam-Webster.com for the first time chose the suffix “-ism” as its Word of the Year, which is the word most frequently looked up in their publication, because “a small group of words that share this three-letter ending triggered both high volume and significant year-over-year increase in lookups at Merriam-Webster.com. Taken together, these seven words represent millions of individual dictionary lookups.” The words with that suffix most frequently searched were socialism, fascism, racism, feminism, communism, capitalism, and terrorism.

The American Dialect Society also voted on its Word of the Year. I find all of the choices most interesting, so am including them here. According to the American Dialect Society, “Note that the number after each nomination is the number of votes it received. Winners are indicated by an asterisk, and numbers separated by slash marks indicate a run-off.”

ADS WORD OF THE YEAR

ammosexual: someone who loves firearms in a fetishistic manner. 42
ghost: (verb) abruptly end a relationship by cutting off communication, especially online. 25
on fleek: put together, impeccable, well-arrayed. 4
thanks, Obama: sarcastic expression in which a person pretends to blame Obama for a problem. 76
* they: gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, particularly as a nonbinary identifier. 187

ADS MOST — USEFUL

mic drop: definitive end to a discussion after making an impressive point. 2
microaggression: subtle form of racism or bias. 62
shade: insult, criticism or disrespect, shown in a subtle or clever manner. 11
* they: gender-neutral singular pronoun for a known person, particularly as a nonbinary identifier. 214
zero fucks given, ZFG: indication of supreme indifference. 41

ADS MOST CREATIVE

adult: (verb) behave like a grownup 71
* ammosexual: someone who loves firearms in a fetishistic manner. 153
lowkey: (adverb) to a small extent, in a subtle manner; opposite of highkey. 38
squad: one’s posse or close circle of friends. 3
yass, yaass, yaaass, etc.: expression of excitement, approval or strong agreement. 43

ADS MOST UNNECESSARY

dadbod: the flabby physique of a typical dad. 16
* manbun: man’s hairstyle pulled up in a bun. 207
or nah: question tag expressing that something may not occur. 34
trigger warning: alert for potentially distressing material. 10
thanks, Obama: sarcastic expression in which a person pretends to blame Obama for a problem. 34

ADS MOST OUTRAGEOUS
fish gape: posed expression with cheeks sucked in and lips slightly apart. 3
* fuckboy, fuckboi: derogatory term for a man who behaves objectionably or promiscuously. 127 / 173
schlong: (verb) defeat soundly. 93 / 148
sharewashing: deceptive marketing by companies treating services as “sharing.” 14
white student union: campus organization organized in response to a black student union. 27

ADS MOST EUPHEMISTIC
af, asf: intensifier after an adjective (abbreviation for “as fuck”). 1
lit: amazing, exciting or fun. 2
* Netflix and chill: sexual come-on masked as a suggestion to watch Netflix and relax. 315
swipe right/left: accept or reject (based on gestures used on Tinder dating app). 24

ADS MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED

CRISPR: gene-editing technology allowing biologists to alter and control DNA sequences. 51
* ghost: (verb) abruptly end a relationship by cutting off communication, especially online. 223
mom: admiring term of address for a woman seen as a mother figure. 17
on fleek: put together, impeccable, well-arrayed. 23

ADS LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED

Berniementum: momentum behind the candidacy of Bernie Sanders. 59
hoverboard: self-balancing motorized skateboard. 82 / 106
* sitbit: device that rewards sedentary lifestyle (play on Fitbit fitness tracker). 102 / 191
Uber for X: pitch used by startups seeking to emulate Uber in different tech sectors. 33

ADS MOST NOTABLE HASHTAG (new category)

#JeSuisParis: expression of solidarity after the Paris terror attacks. 6
#LoveWins: celebration of Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage. 60
* #SayHerName: call to bring attention to violence against women of color. 178
#StayMadAbby: ridiculing plaintiff in Univ. of Texas affirmative action case. 17
#StayWoke: exhortation to remain vigilant and informed (used by #BlackLivesMatter movement). 59

ADS MOST NOTABLE EMOJI (new category)

heart eyes: heart eyes (romantic, passionate). 31

winking face: winking face (humorous, flirtatious). 8

information desk: information desk person (sassy, sarcastic). 31

*eggplant : eggplant (sexual innuendo). 138

100: 100 (“keep it 100,” “keep it real”). 56

Don’t you feel smarter now? I had heard some of these expressions, but didn’t know exactly what they meant. Now I do.

References:

  1. http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2015/11/word-of-the-year-2015-emoji/
  2. http://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year-2015/-ism
  3. http://www.americandialect.org/2015-word-of-the-year-is-singular-they

 

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Grammar Giggles – At Least They Are Consistently Mistaken

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I saw these signs as I was waiting in the Starbucks drive through line one night recently and had to drive closer to actually take the pictures. I can sometimes grant someone a minor error, but when you make more than one and they are not “minor,” you will definitely end up as a Grammar Giggle. “Receive” is misspelled in the first sign and the second misuses the apostrophe to make a word plural.

sign1 sign2

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Grammar Giggle – Get Invloved!

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My son sent this to me from one of the trade publications he received at the office. In a trade magazine! That is distributed to companies you want to do business with! Any advertisement for publication should be proofread by people who understand the industry and review every single word. Publication of your work product is too important to have these kinds of errors for everyone in your industry to see.

AED

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Grammar Giggle – Statues

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i was looking up information about payroll reports when I came across this error which jumped out at me. It is proof that you can’t trust spell check. Both words are spelled correctly. I have trouble with “statues” instead of “statutes” sometimes too, but I check to make sure I have them right. And I’m not a government entity directing the public to the actual statute!

Statues2

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Why, Yes, It Is Ironic!

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oops

oops

With many thanks to a reader who emailed that she disagreed with my article Isn’t It Ironic because I said that by saying you “couldn’t care less,” you actually cared a little bit. The reader sent me a post by my hero Grammar Girl and an entry from Dictionary.com straightening me out. I have since changed the original article, but here is what convinced me I was wrong:

According to Grammar Girl, the phrase “I couldn’t care less” was originally from Britain and came to the US in the 1950s. It means you could not care any less than you do, so you do not care. In the 60s, the phrase “I could care less” appeared in the US. Some would say it was because sloppy or slurring speakers left off the “n’t” part of “couldn’t.” The whole phrase is ironic. If you say you “could care less,” it means you have a little bit of caring left, which is probably not what you mean. If you really REALLY don’t care, you “couldn’t care less.”

I’ve mentioned more than once that I am not an expert and I truly do appreciate when I am corrected (especially with proof of my error) so that I can fix my mistake. Thankfully, it doesn’t happen with every blog post, but it has happened a time or two.

Is there something that you are wondering about or have a burning question you would like an answer to? Email me at [email protected] and I’ll do what I can to get an answer for you. In the meantime, I will work to find topics of interest to share and hopefully will be correct in my analysis of research to help others learn. As always, thank you for your support!

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Grammar Giggle – Restaurant Menu And Its Own Kind of English

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I captured these photos during a recent trip to Las Vegas. The “tomato’s” is what caught my eye, but as I and my friends started looking at it, the errors just kept coming. Some tips–commas are good, singulars and plurals are important, and it is “mixed” lettuce (but at least they were consistently wrong). I should disclose that I don’t think English was their first language, but when you have your business in America, it is good business sense to have someone familiar with the local language check your work.

Las Vegas 1 Las Vegas 2

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Grammar Giggle – News Is Hard

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My favorite source of Grammar Giggles (my local news station) had a pretty difficult time of it the other night. Three Grammar Giggles in one news story!

The first picture had me looking twice. I didn’t think her name was Steven, but the banner covered her actual nameplate and I just wasn’t sure:

IMG_2718-1

Then they went to the next person:

IMG_2719-1This still could be a name issue, except now I can see the nameplate. OK, so they got the names mixed up. But then

IMG_2720-1

It was a story about the Litchfield Park School District, which they got right in one place, but one would think that the name of the street in LITCHFIELD Park would be LITCHFIELD (which it is).

Three strikes, you’re out!

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Grammar Giggle – What Belongs To The Harrisons?

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This was a Facebook ad to entice me to order a personalized welcome mat.

Harrisons original

Unfortunately, the only thing this picture made me do was keep waiting for the rest of the statement. The Harrison’s . . . WHAT? What belongs to the Harrison? What belongs to ONE of the Harrisons? The Single Harrison’s House? The Single Harrison’s Stoop? The Single Harrison’s Porch? Get Off The Single Harrison’s Lawn? Once I clicked on the picture to save it and it took me to the actual website, this is the picture that was showing up there:Harrisons

This one is correct and renewed a little bit of my faith in the fact that someone at this retailer or the marketing company for the retailer actually knows what is correct. More discussion on this topic is at Plurals, Possessives, and Surnames Oh My!

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Grammar Giggle – A Title Is Just A Title

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This was a “breaking news” flash on my phone this week. The first one that came through was:

Gov Stanton

The “correction” appearing within moments was:

Mayor Stanton

As a bit of background, Greg Stanton is the Mayor of the City of Phoenix and Doug Ducey is the Governor of the State of Arizona–two very different people with two very different jobs. While Mayor Stanton may well be Governor Stanton one day, on the day the “breaking news” appeared, he was still Mayor Stanton. There are lots of facts that need to be checked in proofreading–not just spelling and punctuation. In this case, I’m most interested in who caught the mistake because the correction was made more quickly than most news story corrections are made.

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