Words of The Year
| Year | Word | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | bushlips | (similar to "bullshit" – stemming from President George H. W. Bush's 1988 "Read my lips: no new taxes" broken promise) |
| 1991 | The mother of all | (as in Saddam Hussein's foretold "Mother of all battles") |
| 1992 | Not! | (meaning "just kidding") |
| 1993 | information superhighway | |
| 1994 | cyber, morph | (to change form) |
| 1995 | Web and (to) newt | (to act aggressively as a newcomer). |
| 1996 | mom | (as in "soccer mom"). |
| 1997 | millennium bug | |
| 1998 | e- | (as in "e-mail"). |
| 1999 | Y2K | |
| 2000 | chad | (from the 2000 Presidential Election controversy in Florida). |
| 2001 | 9-11 | |
| 2002 | weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) | |
| 2003 | metrosexual | |
| 2004 | red state, blue state, purple state | (from the 2004 presidential election). |
| 2005 | truthiness | popularized on The Colbert Report. |
| 2006 | plutoed | (demoted or devalued, as happened to the former planet Pluto). |
| 2007 | subprime | (an adjective used to describe a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage, or investment). |
| 2008 | bailout | (a rescue by government of a failing corporation) |
| 2009 | tweet | (a short message sent via the Twitter service) |
| 2010 | app | |
| 2011 | occupy | (in reference to the Occupy movement) |
Read more about this topic: American Dialect Society
Famous quotes containing the words words of, words and/or year:
“My faith is the grand drama of my life. I’m a believer, so I sing words of God to those who have no faith. I give bird songs to those who dwell in cities and have never heard them, make rhythms for those who know only military marches or jazz, and paint colours for those who see none.”
—Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992)
“Spirit is now a very fashionable word: to act with Spirit, to speak with Spirit, means only to act rashly, and to talk indiscreetly. An able man shows his Spirit by gentle words and resolute actions; he is neither hot nor timid.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“The principle of fashion is ... the principle of the kaleidoscope. A new year can only bring us a new combination of the same elements; and about once in so often we go back and begin again.”
—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)