According to The Global Language Monitor, (a company that err…monitors language?) Twitter is the top word of 2009 beating out Obama (this year’s top name), H1N1 the politically correct and way less scary name for Swine Flue and Vampire a term whose popularity needs no explanation.
Other zeitgeist capturing words include digital suffix du jour 2.0 (whose popularity was no doubt flamed by Kraft’s brain explosion) and the recession battling stimulus.
Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor explained of Twitter’s ubiquity: ‘In a year dominated by world-shaking political events, a pandemic, the after effects of a financial tsunami and the death of a revered pop icon, the word Twitter stands above all the other words. Twitter represents a new form of social interaction, where all communication is reduced to 140 characters,’
Which is funny because The Global Language Monitor probably just pulled their data from Twitter’s trending topics right? Check out the list below and let us know if there are any glaring omissions *cough cough chillwave cough*.
The Top Words of 2009
1. Twitter — The ability to encapsulate human thought in 140 characters
2. Obama — The word stem transforms into scores of new words like ObamaCare
3. H1N1 — The formal (and politically correct) name for Swine Flu
4. Stimulus — The $800 billion aid package meant to help mend the US economy
5. Vampire — Vampires are very much en vogue, now the symbol of unrequited love
6. 2.0 — The 2.0 suffix is attached to the next generation of everything
7. Deficit — Lessons from history are dire warnings here
8. Hadron — Ephemeral particles subject to collision in the Large Hadron Collider
9. Healthcare — The direction of which is the subject of intense debate in the US
10. Transparency — Elusive goal for which many 21st c. governments are striving
11. Outrage — In response to large bonuses handed out to †bailed-out’ companies
12. Bonus — The incentive pay packages that came to symbolize greed and excess
13. Unemployed — And underemployed amount to close to 20% of US workforce
14. Foreclosure — Forced eviction for not keeping up with the mortgage payments
15. Cartel — In Mexico, at the center of the battle over drug trafficking
The Top Phrases of 2009
1. King of Pop -Elvis was †The King;’ MJ had to settle for †King of Pop’
2. Obama-mania — One of the scores of words from the Obama-word stem
3. Climate Change — Considered politically neutral compared to global warming
4. Swine Flu — Popular name for the illness caused by the H1N1 virus
5. Too Large to Fail — Institutions that are deemed necessary for financial stability
6. Cloud Computing — Using the Internet for a variety of computer services
7. Public Option — The ability to buy health insurance from a government entity
8. Jai Ho! — A Hindi shout of joy or accomplishment
9. Mayan Calendar — Consists of various †cycles,’ one of which ends on 12/21/2012
10. God Particle — The hadron, believed to hold the secrets of the Big Bang
The Top Names of 2009
1. Barack Obama — It was Obama’s year, though MJ nearly eclipsed in the end
2. Michael Jackson — Eclipses Obama on internet though lags in traditional media
3. Mobama — Mrs. Obama, sometimes as a fashion Icon
4. Large Hadron Collider — The Trillion dollar †aton smasher’ buried outside Geneva
5. Neda Agha Sultan — Iranian woman killed in the post-election demonstrations
6. Nancy Pelosi -The Democratic Speaker of the US House
7. M. Ahmadinejad — The president of Iran, once again
8. Hamid Karzai — The winner of Afghanistan’s disputed election
9. Rahm Emmanuel — Bringing †Chicago-style politics’ to the Administration
10. Sonia Sotomayor — The first Hispanic woman on the US Supreme Court
