In case you missed the announcement last week, ‘selfie’ is the Oxford Dictionaries‘ new WOTY (word of the year). Apparently, given its ubiquity, the decision was almost unanimous. Since its rise in popularity, it has also spawned a host of bizarre derivatives: ‘helfie’, ‘belfie’, ‘welfie’, as well as ‘legsie’! Last year Oxford Dictionaries went for ‘omnishambles’, though… Continue reading WOTY 2013
It’s the time of the year once again for the WOTY! What’s this, you wonder? WOTY is the Word of the Year, each year decided on by the AmericanDialect Society. At the annual conference in Portland, Oregon, Ben Zimmer* is chairing the New Words Committee, which decides on the WOTY. This year’s nominations (from Zimmer’s VisualThesaurus)… Continue reading Jabberwoty
Remember how I posted a piece in January on the ‘word of the year’? Well, the American Dialect Society’s latest get-together in Pittburgh has chosen this year’s winner. Nominated by Bill Krezschmar, a University of Georgia professor, ‘app’ sneaked it over thirty-two other possible choices. And it took a hundred and fifty linguists two days… Continue reading WOTY – ADS nom(inates) ‘app’