Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Public Address Word of the Year and Word of the Decade - the Vote!

24 Responses

  • Graeme Edgeler,

    Trying to work out if there's a reason that C words (CERA, crowdsourcing) are other than in alphanumerical order, but am at a loss. Something to do with the speed of light?

    Wellington, New Zealand • Since Nov 2006 • 3215 posts Report Reply

  • Bart Janssen,

    How did we miss Drugcheat? My partner pointed it out.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 4461 posts Report Reply

  • Robyn Gallagher,

    It's weird looking back at the Word of the Decade list. I've been googling words and restricting results to the last year and it's interesting how many struggle to get even a dozen results.

    Not only is fuckeulogy not in common use, but most of the results pages were user names or online slang dictionaries. If it's used in a sentence, its meaning is usually glossed first. Two years ago there was the sudden burst of enthusiasm for twatcock, but online it seems to be partying like it's 2010 (dancing to "Young Blood" while wearing jeggings.) Ditto for roflnui - 10 results in the past year, or nine if you exclude this very page.

    I suppose this is all part of the deal. Language is just as susceptible to trends as popular music or clothing. So if we're happy to think of jeggings as a definitive fashion of the past decade, perhaps twatcock is just as suitable.

    Since Nov 2006 • 1946 posts Report Reply

  • Emma Hart, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    I suppose this is all part of the deal. Language is just as susceptible to trends as popular music or clothing.

    Yeah, usually a word has made an actual impression because it's suddenly arrived, for one reason or another. It seems quite reasonable that most would go the way they came.

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2006 • 4651 posts Report Reply

  • Stewart,

    I'm not voting on the basis that a word has achieved any legitimacy or mainstream usage; rather that a word or term has touched me in the timespan.
    Zeitgeisty terms will come & go, it is what we, as individuals remember and get resonance with that lasts on a personal basis.

    Te Ika A Maui - Whakatane… • Since Oct 2008 • 577 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Robyn Gallagher,

    10 results in the past year

    and mainly confined to PAS folk. interesting

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • TracyMac, in reply to Graeme Edgeler,

    I was thinking of some grand reason encompassing ASCII character code sorting with ALL CAPS vs normal title case letters (all capital letters in ascii have lower number-codes than lower case letters, so tools using the ascii codes in the background will sort caps before lower case - it's rare though).

    But on further examination, perhaps it's a simple matter of someone inserting some extra rows in a spreadsheet table, not quite in the right place. :-)

    Canberra, West Island • Since Nov 2006 • 701 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Stewart,

    +1

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Not only is fuckeulogy not in common use, but most of the results pages were user names or online slang dictionaries. If it's used in a sentence, its meaning is usually glossed first.

    It was coined by John Oliver in the online podcast The Bugle after the death of Bin Laden. It's also been applied to some other people who aren't generally liked who have been killed around the region in the same podcast. I'm not aware of it being used anywhere else, amongst the followers of that podcast it has a somewhat legendary status - it's a fantastic analysis of what was going on around the media when he died - the eulogy for someone that you're really quite happy is dead.

    Mainstream influence virtually none however :)

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Anonymous Author,

    No proper-nounified un-suffixed Dotcom?

    Love 'brainfade' – it can be made to sound almost as onomatopaeic as 'flibbertigibberish'.
    'Facebook', however, sounds like the shape of a headache slowly expanding.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2010 • 64 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Siu,

    I just realised the Google form is in Chinese... Heh

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 82 posts Report Reply

  • Steve Withers, in reply to Stewart,

    Me, too.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2008 • 312 posts Report Reply

  • Chris Waugh, in reply to Tony Siu,

    I just realised the Google form is in Chinese… Heh

    That's weird, it's all in English for me, and I'm using a Chinese-language OS and coming from a Chinese IP address...

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 2401 posts Report Reply

  • Rachel Prosser,

    I see that Google is listed as a noun, but I'm pretty sure I (and others) submitted it as a verb - "to google".

    Robyn's use above ("I’ve been googling words and restricting results to the last year ") is the perfect example.

    People now say they googled something with Bing, so the verb has escaped its noun somewhat.

    I see that it hasn't made the spell checker yet though - it's showing as underlined as I type this.

    Christchurch • Since Mar 2008 • 228 posts Report Reply

  • Bruce Hitcchcock,

    What no ‘nek minute’, which I loath, but was excedingly popular in the past year http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nek+minute&oq=nek+minute&gs_l=youtube.3..0l10.2163.5728.0.6220.10.5.0.5.5.0.315.1495.2-3j2.5.0…0.0…1ac.1.f0F8jDWcnGM. At only 4,400 youtube results and a totally kiwi phenomenon it’s exclusion beggars beleif Mr Brown.
    Also how about Ineptocracy, http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ineptocracy, which is prehaps the single greatest new word I have learnt this year! As in ‘John Key governs an ineptocracy’. 212,000 google results and such a lovely meaning.

    Invercargill • Since Dec 2012 • 2 posts Report Reply

  • DexterX,

    It has been a batshit year coming on the end of a decade dominted by twatcocks - GFC War on terror and all that jazz........Nek Minnit.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 1224 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Bruce Hitcchcock,

    What no ‘nek minute’, which I loath, but was excedingly popular in the past year

    see previous year

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Meth'd acting...
    While Downton Abbey never made it into the 'My word' of the Yeah!
    S Colbert Esq has slaked our seemingly bottomless thirst for all things class-based with - Breaking Abbey

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Hilary Stace,

    Let's hope the next decade's words will be ones like peace, love, harmony, cooperation, equity, diversity, justice, sharing, inclusion, relationships, eco-balance ... and hope.

    Wgtn • Since Jun 2008 • 3229 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Hilary Stace,

    there's a word for that :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Ross Mason,

    Respect !

    Upper Hutt • Since Jun 2007 • 1590 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    twatcock and the rest are all very well but I'm still a fan of 'Theatre'...that was a well useful word hereabouts.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Ross Mason,

    or hippie :)

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Julian Melville,

    Excellent to see "fuckeulogy" make it into the list, it's a brilliant word. The Bugle also coined "catastratunity" this year after the big storm hit NYC, and I think that's got a lot of potential.

    Auckland • Since Dec 2006 • 200 posts Report Reply

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