From hypermiling in 2008, unfriend is 2009 word of the year
- 16 Comment
Do you remember Oxford’s 2008 word of the year? (Me either.) It was hypermiling, to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques. (By the way, the 2007 word was locavore.)
Each year around the holiday season, the New Oxford American Dictionary announces its word of the year. It’s a campaign to generate buzz and garner consumer attention.
If Oxford wanted to create a big splash this year, selecting a social networking buzz word was certainly the way to go. Last year’s selection didn’t garner coverage in blogs like Mashable, Computer World, and CNET .
In fact, since the November 16 announcement there have been more than 420 mainstream and traditional media stories.
The previous years’ words seem to be selected based on that year’s popular trends, therefore unfriend is not a surprising choice.
The word, without context, does look trivial when placed next to its predecessors.
I would have guessed “microblog” or “microblogging” for the 2009 word of the year. But what do I know?
What would you have selected?
16 Comments on this post
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Laptop Briefcases said:
I think unfriend is quite an appropriate word considering the massive growth of facebook. Although this is simply a marketing gimmick by Oxford, this choice seems like it could have been helped along by some advertising money from facebook.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:00 pm -
PSP Go said:
They are always interesting, because they generally reflect the zeitgeist of our times.
November 20th, 2009 at 2:51 pm -
ATV said:
I guess a dictionary company really has to grasp at straws to make publicity. The only way this ‘word of the year’ promotion gains any momentum is by riding the popularity of other trends. Still, will this actually get anyone to choose Oxford next time they need to buy a dictionary. Do people still even buy dictionaries in this age?
November 23rd, 2009 at 2:16 pm -
malatya haber said:
I think unfriend is quite an appropriate word considering the massive growth of facebook.
December 1st, 2009 at 7:52 am -
Catering said:
microblog, facebook and Twitter might one of this could select but little bit surprising.
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:22 am -
cash back with credit said:
This one isn’t too surprising. It was either that or “retweet”. Perhaps twitter will get it next year.
December 3rd, 2009 at 11:36 am -
Net Age Web Design said:
This just goes to show the power that the internet in general and social media in particular has in shaping our modern language. 300 million plus active facebook users can not be ighored for too long!
December 6th, 2009 at 5:07 am -
Saglik Sayfasi said:
I think unfriend is quite an appropriate word considering the massive growth of facebook.
December 9th, 2009 at 7:00 am -
hizlindir said:
thank you for sharing
December 9th, 2009 at 2:12 pm -
printing said:
turn off the ignition at long stoplights and for trains. I have read that anything longer than 10 seconds of idle time, it will pay to shut the car off, if the vehicle is fuel injected.
December 10th, 2009 at 9:23 am -
Teknoloji haberleri said:
I think unfriend is quite an appropriate word considering the massive growth of facebook.
December 11th, 2009 at 5:24 pm -
blue cross tonik said:
This just goes to show the power that the internet in general and social media in particular has in shaping our modern language. 300 million plus active facebook users can not be ighored for too long!
December 24th, 2009 at 6:24 am -
Sam said:
I also think unfriend is quite an appropriate word considering the massive growth of facebook.
December 29th, 2009 at 6:38 pm -
how to start a blog said:
I was going to go with “Tweet”
February 23rd, 2010 at 3:06 pm -
kelowna real estate said:
I do think unfriend is quite an appropriate word considering the massive growth of facebook.
March 3rd, 2010 at 10:05 pm -
Selçuk Üniversitesi said:
This just goes to show the power that the internet in general and social media in particular has in shaping our modern language. 300 million plus active facebook users can not be ighored for too long!
March 13th, 2010 at 8:38 am
