Language Report - 2004-7

2004-7

Succeeding reports, which drew on the work of Oxford’s language monitoring programme, concentrated on developments over the previous period of twelve months. A discernible feature was the increasing prominence given to Dent herself. In 2003 she was identified as the author on the inside title page and, with a small photograph, on the inside of the dust-jacket, but not on the outside; in 2004 and 2005, her name was on the front cover, with a photograph on the back cover; in 2006, her name was shown on the spine and her photograph was on the front cover. The 2007 edition had the name in larger letters than the title or sub-title.

The second to fourth editions had slightly whimsical sub-titles:

• larpers and shroomers (2004);

• fanboys and overdogs (2005) (dedicated to Richard Whiteley, presenter of Countdown, who died in June 2005);

• The like, Language Report for real (2006) (the title shown on the front cover, though with just The Language Report on the spine and inside ).

The fifth edition in 2007, English on the move 2000-2007, was a retrospective of the early years of the 21st century.

The first and last words identified in each edition as representing the preceding century were:

• "hip" (in the sense of fashionable) (1904) and "chav" (2004);
• "peace economy" (1905) and "su doku" (2005); and
• "muckraking" (1906) and "bovvered" (2006).

A different approach was adopted in 2007 with ten words identified for each decade from 1900-99. Several words, such as "bling", "chav" and "sex up" were also chosen to represent 2000-07. "Footprint" (as, for example, in "carbon footprint") was referred to - almost in passing - as the choice for 2007.

There was no Language Report in 2008, but Dent produced a volume entitled Words of the Year that was published as a paperback by the OUP.