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Blog Excerpts
Japanese Words of the Year
November 21, 2008
A panel of judges has selected the year's most popular Japanese words and phrases: everything from guerilla rainstorm to whispering matron. Check out the list at Pink Tentacle.
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Department of Word Lists
Local Words of the Year
January 7, 2010
As the American Dialect Society gears up to vote for Word of the Year, the City Dictionary website has announced its own selection of "words with local flavor."
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Blog Excerpts
American Dialect Society Word of the Year
January 13, 2007
It's official: The American Dialect Society has voted "plutoed" as their 2006 Word of the Year. The word derives from Pluto, which lost its "planet" status last year, of course. Wondering what plutoed means? Please click here.
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Blog Excerpts
Trans-Atlantic Words of the Year
November 14, 2008
Over on Separated by a Common Language, Lynne Murphy has her own trans-Atlantic twist on the usual Word of the Year selections. Make your nominations for "Best American to British import" and "Best British to American import."
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Blog Excerpts
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year
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Blog Excerpts
Words of the Year, from Oxford
November 13, 2012
It's hard to believe but it's already the time when dictionary programs begin selecting their "Words of the Year." Oxford University Press has selected one Word of the Year for the UK and one for the US. The UK word is omnishambles ("a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged"), while the US word is the acronymic verb GIF ("to create a GIF file of an image or video sequence, especially relating to an event"). The UK announcement is here, and the US announcement is here.
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Blog Excerpts
Oxford's Word of the Year is "Vape"
November 18, 2014
The editors at Oxford Dictionaries have selected their choice for 2014 Word of the Year, and it is "vape," defined as "to inhale and exhale the vapor produced by an electronic cigarette or similar device." Check out Oxford's announcement here. Our contributor Nancy Friedman was on the case back in 2010, in her column, " But Wait, There's Less!" (Nancy also named "vape" one of her Words of 2013.)
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Blog Excerpts
NOAD Word of the Year: "Refudiate"
November 16, 2010
It's time once again for "Word of the Year" season! The New Oxford American Dictionary gets things started by naming its Word of 2010: Sarah Palin's notorious Twitterism, refudiate. Read about the selection and the runners-up (including vuvuzela and nom nom) on the Oxford University Press blog here. And read more about refudiate in Ben Zimmer's Word Routes column here.
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Word Routes
NOAD Word of the Year: "Hypermiling"
November 11, 2008
The leaves have fallen and there's a chill in the air, so that could mean only one thing: Word of the Year season is starting! This year, the New Oxford American Dictionary kicks things off with its annual choice: hypermiling, meaning "attempting to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one's car and one's driving techniques."
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Word Routes
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year: "Admonish"
November 20, 2009
The latest selection for 2009 Word of the Year comes from the good people at Merriam-Webster. Unlike other dictionary publishers that anoint an annual word, Merriam-Webster bases its winner and runners-up on actual user lookups to its online dictionary and thesaurus. So instead of the novelties selected by its competitors (distracted driving from Webster's New World, unfriend from New Oxford American), Merriam-Webster's choice is an old word that worked its way into current events: admonish.
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