List of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year

Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year, a list published annually by the American dictionary-publishing company Merriam-Webster, features the ten words of the year from the English language. This list started in 2003, and is published at the end of each year. At first, Merriam-Webster determined its contents by analyzing page hits and popular searches on its website. Since 2006 the list has been determined by an online poll and by suggestions from visitors to the site. cite web
url = http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-6138377-7.html
title = Merriam-Webster launches 'Word of the Year' online poll
publisher = CNET
date = 2007-11-27
accessdate = 2007-12-29 ]

As of 2008, only two of Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year were already dictionary entries at the time they earned their status ("democracy" in 2003 and "integrity" in 2005). 2004's Top Word, "blog", was added later. The words for 2006 and 2007, "truthiness" and "w00t", respectively, have not made it to the traditional Merriam-Webster printed dictionary as of 2008. [cite web
url = http://www.newsweek.com/id/77954
title = W00t! There It Is: A quirky online gaming term is crowned Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year. A proud day for geeks everywhere.
publisher = "Newsweek"
date = 2007-12-14
accessdate = 2007-12-29] The Words of the Year usually reflect events that happened during the years the lists were published. For example, the Word of the Year for 2005, "integrity", showed that the general public had an immense interest in defining this word amid ethics scandals in the American government, corporations, and sports. The Word of the Year for 2004, "blog", was looked up on the Online Dictionary the most as blogs began to influence mainstream media. In 2006, Merriam-Webster received a lot of publicity as "truthiness", a word coined by Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report", topped the list.

election process

When the Word of the Year was started in 2003, Merriam-Webster determined which words would appear on the list by analyzing page hits and popular searches to its web site. For example, the 2003 and 2004 lists were determined by online hits to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Online Thesaurus and to Merriam-WebsterCollegiate.com. [cite news |title= Merriam-Webster Announces 2004 Words of the Year |first=Christopher |last=Simmons |work=Publishers Newswire |date=2004-11-30 |url=http://www.publishersnewswire.com/internet/pnw_0082.shtml |accessdate=2008-06-03] cite news |title=Merriam-Webster Announces 2003 Words of the Year |work=The Write News |publisher=Writers Write |date=2004-01-23 |url=http://www.writenews.com/2004/012304_words_2003.htm |accessdate=2008-06-04] Since 2006, Merriam-Webster changed this practice, and the list was determined by an online poll among words that were suggested by visitors to the site. Visitors were requested to vote for one entry out of a list of twenty words and phrases. The list consisted of the words and phrases that were frequently looked-up on the site and those that were submitted by many readers.

Words of the Year

2003

For 2005, "integrity" was the most looked-up word in Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary. [cite news |title=The words that made 2005 |first=Ruth |last=Walker |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=2006-01-04 |page=18] According to John Morse, President of Merriam-Webster, the word "integrity" slowly moved up the list to first place in 2005 because ethics scandals emerged around the United States regarding corporations, government, and sports, such as the CIA leak investigations, scandals in Congress, and disgraced athletes.cite news |title=Why 'integrity' was such a sought-after word this year ; It beat 'refugee' and 'contempt' as the most looked-up word of 2005, according to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary |first=Sara |last=Miller |work=The Christian Science Monitor |date=2005-12-20 |page=02]

Hurricane Katrina, the bird flu, and the death of Pope John Paul II renewed public interest in words such as "refugee," "tsunami," "pandemic," "conclave," and "levee." The word "refugee" was also a candidate for the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year; according to Morse, the term gained notoriety as the entire country debated with how to describe people affected by Hurricane Katrina. The debate, over whether "refugee" was the proper term to describe displaced residents or whether the term was pejorative, summoned several Americans to look up the word in their dictionaries to form their own opinion. The word "refugee" received more queries in one month than most words in an entire year. The word "insipid" made the Top 10 list after Simon Cowell described Anthony Fedorov's performance in "American Idol" as "pleasant, safe, and a little insipid."cite news |first=Wendy |last= Solomon |title=The Nation; 'Integrity' Often Questioned in '05; The most-checked word in Webster's online and slang like 'infosnacking' catch linguists' eyes. |work=Los Angeles Times |date=2005-12-25 ] At number 10 is "inept", a word that received a lot of attention after the days when President George W. Bush delivered a live prime time news conference that came to an awkward end when some television networks cut him off to return to their regularly scheduled programs. [cite news |title=Dictionary reveals US 'word of the year' |work=China Daily |date=2005-12-12 |page=7]

2006

After online visitors chose "truthiness" in a five-to-one majority vote as the Word of the Year of 2006, [cite web
url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/06words.htm
title = Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2006
publisher = Merriam-Webster
date = 2007
accessdate = 2007-12-29] Merriam-Webster received a large amount of publicity.cite news |first=Andrew Adam |last=Newman |title=How Dictionaries Define Publicity: the Word of the Year |work=The New York Times |publisher= |date=2007-12-10] This was the first year in which Merriam-Webster used online voting to decide its Word of the Year. The term was created by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central in "The Colbert Report"'s first episode, [cite news |first= |last=Anonymous |title= Truthiness--The Word of the Year |work= News for You |publisher= |date=2007-01-24] which took place on October 2005, [cite news |title=Word of year has ring of ... you know |last=The Associated Press |work=The Grand Rapids Press |date=2006-12-12 |page=A.6] to describe things that he fervently believes to be the case regardless of the facts. [cite news |work=The Independent |date=2007-10-20 |title=Vote Colbert! (The Candidate Running for Both Parties}] In addition, "truthiness" became the American Dialect Society's Word of the Year for 2005.cite news |first= Nathan |last=Bierma |title=Talking about the word of the year |work=Chicago Tribune |publisher= |date=2006-12-27 ]

2007

John Morse, President of Merriam-Webster, said that the word "w00t" was a good choice because it "blends whimsy and new technology". cite web
url = http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3984898
title = Merriam-Webster's Word of '07: 'W00t'
first = Stephanie
last = Reitz
publisher = ABCNews Internet Ventures
work = ABC News
date = 2007-12-11
accessdate = 2008-06-19 ] Spelled with two zeros in leetspeak, "w00t" reflects a new direction in the English language led by a generation raised on video games and cell phone text messaging. [cite news |title="w00t" crowned word of year by U.S. dictionary |first=Jason |last=Szep |work=Reuters |date=2007-12-11 |url=http://www.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSN1155159520071212 |accessdate=2008-06-03] While the word itself has not been published in its printed dictionary yet, Merriam-Webster claims that its presence in the Open Dictionary and the honors it's been awarded gives "w00t" a better chance at becoming an official word. [cite news |title=Word-of-the-Year Ritual Pauses for Puzzlement |first=Mike |last=Nizza |work=The New York Times |date=2007-12-13 |accessdate=2008-06-03 |url=http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/13/word-of-the-year-ritual-pauses-for-puzzlement/] [cite news |title='Woot' Named Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year |url=http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/12/woot-named-merr.html |accessdate=2008-06-20 |first=Susan |last=Arendt |date=2007-12-12 |work=Wired |publisher=CondéNet] It originally became popular in online gaming forums and is now used as an expression of excitement and joy. The word is also considered an acronym in the online gaming world for the phrase "We owned the other team."cite news |title="w00t" voted Merriam-Webster word of the year |publisher=Agence France-Presse |work=Google News |date=2007-12-12 |url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ileUw1tWfWTY4wpRO8Ak67PixHfQ |accessdate=2008-03-08] This word was also used in the 1990 film Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts exclaimed "Woot, woot, woot!" to her date's friends during a polo match. [cite news |title=Merriam-Webster's Word of '07: 'W00t'; Winner in Merriam-Webster's Online Word of the Year Poll Something for Gamers to "W00t" About |first=Stephanie |last=Reitz |date=2007-12-11 |work=ABC News |url=http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3984898 |accessdate=2008-06-03]

Placing second in 2007's contest, "facebook" created an unofficial verb out of the website Facebook. Founded in 2004, Facebook is a social network that allows its users to create a profile page and forge links with other friends and acquaintances. [cite news |first=Brad |last=Stone |title=Facebook |work=The New York Times |publisher=The New York Times Company |date=2007-12-07 |accessdate=2008-03-17 |url=http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/facebook_inc/index.html?inline=nyt-org ]

References

External links

* [http://www.m-w.com/ Merriam-Webster Online]