Since yesterday’s posting, I’ve spotted an interview on npr (National Public Radio) with Ben Zimmer, who writes the ‘On Language’ column for The New York Times Magazine.
He offers the following contributions to the American Dialect Society’s ‘Words of the year‘ nominations: ‘junk’, his particular favourite – you’ll see why if you look at his column; ‘hacktivism’, from the Wikileaks scandal; ‘shellacking’, a somewhat tortuous journey from resin (shellac) through boxing to politics – Obama being on the receiving end; and, with one of my daughters in mind, I have to say that I’m suddenly rather fond of ‘gleeks’, as in fans of the TV show ‘Glee’.