Every year, the American Dialect Society chooses a Word of the Year, usually a well-known term or phrase that most Americans can instantly connect with.
GovGab brought up an interesting point: this year's word bailout has a much more serious tone than 2005's word truthiness (coined by Stephen Colbert) which led me to do a little research and comparison of my own.
Take a look at this list of Words of the Year from Wikipedia.
From 1990 to 2008, you can determine the tone and comfort of Americans from Words of the Year.
Compare 1999's Y2K and 2000's (hanging) chad to 2001's 9-11 and 2002's weapons of mass destruction. The carefree attitude of the prosperous late '90s is evident. People were excited about technology and the future. However, the year 2001 brought everyone down to a very careful, very serious level very fast.
By 2003, the jovial words return with metrosexual, and my personal favorite, 2006's plutoed. However, in 2007, subprime takes the cake, followed by last year's bailout.
Times are tough in 2009. People aren't as lighthearted or spontaneous about their habits or their lives. But the Word of the Year cycle is evidence that when things are bad, they do get better and we do learn to laugh again and appreciate the people and opportunities around us.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment