2011 Lexical Item of the Year nominees

Garrett Wollman

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Jan 6, 2012, 5:07:29 PM1/6/12

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OK, the American Dialect Society calls it "Word of the Year", but
there are plenty of multiple-word nominations. Ben Zimmer's blog post
lists the lot:

<http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/3090/>

Other than "cloud" and "tablet", both of which are long-standing words
of IT jargon, and "artisanal" which is a borrowing from French cheese
regulations, I don't see much here we're likely to remember in a
year's time. Most of them I was blissfully unaware of.

-GAWollman

--
Garrett A. Wollman | What intellectual phenomenon can be older, or more oft
wol...@bimajority.org| repeated, than the story of a large research program
Opinions not shared by| that impaled itself upon a false central assumption
my employers. | accepted by all practitioners? - S.J. Gould, 1993

Jerry Friedman

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Jan 7, 2012, 10:32:51 AM1/7/12

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On Jan 6, 3:07 pm, woll...@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) wrote:
> OK, the American Dialect Society calls it "Word of the Year", but
> there are plenty of multiple-word nominations. Ben Zimmer's blog post
> lists the lot:
>
> <http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/3090/>
>
> Other than "cloud" and "tablet", both of which are long-standing words
> of IT jargon, and "artisanal" which is a borrowing from French cheese
> regulations, I don't see much here we're likely to remember in a
> year's time. Most of them I was blissfully unaware of.

And "occupy" (in its new senses) wins! My favorite was
"assholocracy", which won "most outrageous". If one wanted to say
that more classically, how would one do it?

--
Jerry Friedman

Mike Lyle

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Jan 7, 2012, 4:25:05 PM1/7/12

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"Proctocracy". I thought I'd coined it, but had the sense to Ggl: sad
to say, I have no claim to the usage's maydenhede.

--
Mike.

Jerry Friedman

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Jan 8, 2012, 1:26:03 PM1/8/12

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On Jan 7, 2:25 pm, Mike Lyle <mike_lyle...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> On Sat, 7 Jan 2012 07:32:51 -0800 (PST), Jerry Friedman
>
>
>
> <jerry_fried...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> >On Jan 6, 3:07 pm, woll...@bimajority.org (Garrett Wollman) wrote:
> >> OK, the American Dialect Society calls it "Word of the Year", but
> >> there are plenty of multiple-word nominations. Ben Zimmer's blog post
> >> lists the lot:
>
> >> <http://www.visualthesaurus.com/cm/wordroutes/3090/>
>
> >> Other than "cloud" and "tablet", both of which are long-standing words
> >> of IT jargon, and "artisanal" which is a borrowing from French cheese
> >> regulations, I don't see much here we're likely to remember in a
> >> year's time. Most of them I was blissfully unaware of.
>
> >And "occupy" (in its new senses) wins! My favorite was
> >"assholocracy", which won "most outrageous". If one wanted to say
> >that more classically, how would one do it?
>
> "Proctocracy".

Thanks. I should have gotten that.

> I thought I'd coined it, but had the sense to Ggl: sad
> to say, I have no claim to the usage's maydenhede.

Maybe you can enjoy a fulfilling relationship with it all the same.

--
Jerry Friedman

Mike Lyle

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Jan 8, 2012, 3:56:42 PM1/8/12

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On Sun, 8 Jan 2012 10:26:03 -0800 (PST), Jerry Friedman
<jerry_f...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>On Jan 7, 2:25 pm, Mike Lyle <mike_lyle...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>> On Sat, 7 Jan 2012 07:32:51 -0800 (PST), Jerry Friedman

[...]

>>
>> >And "occupy" (in its new senses) wins! My favorite was
>> >"assholocracy", which won "most outrageous". If one wanted to say
>> >that more classically, how would one do it?
>>
>> "Proctocracy".
>
>Thanks. I should have gotten that.
>
>> I thought I'd coined it, but had the sense to Ggl: sad
>> to say, I have no claim to the usage's maydenhede.
>
>Maybe you can enjoy a fulfilling relationship with it all the same.

No, I just can't respect it any more.

--
Mike.