|
In order to view this object you need Flash Player 9+ support! 
|
2010: The year of Apps, Gleeks, Twihards and noms.
Fans of the traditional English language should look away now as the 2010 ‘word of the year’ has been revealed. With thousands of potential nominees, the American Dialect Society sifted through the masses and crowed ‘App’ the word that best summed up our preoccupation in 2010. This abbreviated slag term for a computer or phone application has definitely infiltrated our lives this year as more and more ‘apps’ appears at a scarily high rate! The highly annoying popular photo caption phrase ‘nom’ was the runner up in the word of the year competition; this overused slang term for appetising food has definitely made an impression this year especially on the social network sites. Many of the nominees for this prestigious linguistic honour were spawned during the devastating BP oil spill, including the term ‘squillions’ defined as ‘an immeasurable number’ in regards to the staggering amount of oil that leaked into the ocean.
Although many have criticised the decision to award the title to ‘App’ it is hard to ignore the fact that the word itself has infiltrated many of our lives. Whether you are a hardcore smart phone user whose life is defined by which app you can add on to your phone next, or a technophobe who has been bombarded with ‘There’s an app for that..’ TV adverts, the word is highly contagious. Last year’s winner was unsurprisingly ‘tweet’ a term which has continued to grow over the last year, even working its way into some of our most traditional institutions.
The full list of potential winners of the coveted title has been released by the American Dialect Society. The list reads as a breakdown of the major trends of the last year with popular culture terms sitting alongside new terms to describe airport society measures and war tactics. Gleeks and Twihards have emerged as two of the biggest fan groups across the word whereas singer Lady Gaga has caused massive Twitter trending buzz with her ‘Little Monsters’. Although the year is only just beginning it shouldn’t be too long before the contenders for next year’s title start to emerge!
Take a look at the words that just missed out on the top prize in 2010 http://www.americandialect.org/2010-WOTY-nominations.pdf