Words of the Year 2002 Awards

January 20, 2003 1:55 PM

Words of the Year 2002 AwardsAmerican Dialect Society Word of the Year : "WMD - weapons of mass destruction". Most Unnecessary: "wombanization" . Most Outrageous: "neuticles" . Most Useful (by unanimous decision): "google".....1991 Word of the Year: "mother of all."
posted by Voyageman (33 comments total)

I don't think I have ever... well... ever heard the term "grid butt" before.

Botox parties? damn... Iraq scares us, yet the Botox parties rave on... What a country.
posted by LoopSouth at 2:14 PM on January 20, 2003

at first i thought that read "wombatization" which was much more interesting.
posted by jodic at 2:25 PM on January 20, 2003

dialarhoea, inadvertent dialing of a cell phone in a pocket or handbag (8)
posted by thomcatspike at 2:31 PM on January 20, 2003

See also this thread about useless and unnecessary words.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 2:59 PM on January 20, 2003

i am happy to report that i own one neuticle
all right all right, it's on a keychain, but still...
posted by dolface at 3:08 PM on January 20, 2003

Hmmm...BLOG also made the short list, and was also voted "Most Likely To Succeed."

Personally, I think the words "WHIMSY" and "PLETHORA" are highly underrated and need to be used much more often in our society. Anyone else have "pet" words that they enjoy using, much to the bafflement of others?
posted by davidmsc at 3:20 PM on January 20, 2003

Anyone else have "pet" words that they enjoy using, much to the bafflement of others?

What, dude...
posted by thomcatspike at 3:23 PM on January 20, 2003

i'm partial to 'aphasia', 'chunk', 'slab' and 'delaminate'
posted by dolface at 3:27 PM on January 20, 2003

I've always thought 'embiggens' was a perfectly cromulent word.
posted by krunk at 3:36 PM on January 20, 2003

ooh, and 'crepuscular'
posted by dolface at 3:45 PM on January 20, 2003

Sometimes I wool-gather, sometimes my thoughts are peripatetic, and sometimes I read Mefi.
posted by bonehead at 3:57 PM on January 20, 2003

defenestrate (always a favorite), visually interesting (euphemism for ugly), TiVo (as a verb), TiVo surfing, glurge.
posted by Foosnark at 3:57 PM on January 20, 2003

"Anyone else have "pet" words that they enjoy using, much to the bafflement of others?"

Yes.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:09 PM on January 20, 2003

201 (k), a 401 (k) retirement account ruined by stock losses.

apatheist, someone believing that God or gods exist but are not of any use.

Craptacular!
posted by gottabefunky at 4:39 PM on January 20, 2003

Anyone else have "pet" words that they enjoy using, much to the bafflement of others?

Sexcellent.
posted by Hildago at 4:46 PM on January 20, 2003

pet words: a friend of mine liked "evanescent".

it's weird looking back at their earlier entries and seeing words that were presumably new then: "politically correct"; "peace dividend"; "rollerblade"...
posted by andrew cooke at 5:06 PM on January 20, 2003

TiVo sounds too much like "teeve" (to steal).
posted by Succa at 5:08 PM on January 20, 2003

I still like using obfuscated.. and I'm really glad to see that blog did not win. I _hate_ that word, and for no particular reason other than needing some place to focus all my negativity.

And banal retentive to describe people that talk incessantly about trite things.. wait a minute, i think i'm describing myself.

oops, they found me out

*hides*
posted by shadow45 at 6:39 PM on January 20, 2003

Oh, and Homer Simpson's sacrilicious is great too.
posted by shadow45 at 6:40 PM on January 20, 2003

"Ephemeral" (and "ephemera") are among my faves. And I once heard someone referring to the "Californication" of something and couldn't stop thinking how totally cool that word was.
posted by Vidiot at 7:28 PM on January 20, 2003

I'm partial to "bukkake"
posted by vito90 at 8:12 PM on January 20, 2003

I love defenestrate too. All time best word.

For new coinages, I like "genericana" for that hideous section of mobil/exxon/burger king/shell/home depot/mcdonald's that surrounds and threatens to engulf every American city and town.
posted by CunningLinguist at 8:16 PM on January 20, 2003

Please note that the ADS site's webmaster is MeFi's own Mo Nickels. Nice job, Grant.
posted by anildash at 8:42 PM on January 20, 2003

Language should always grow. I use words now that were out of style long ago, and no one has a clue what they mean.
posted by Derek at 12:06 AM on January 21, 2003

rushmc's Current List of Neat Words
affaissement, afflatus, akrasia, anaclitic, apoptosis, bloviate, bricolage, cafard, caliginous, dysergy, eleemosynary, eventuate, fideism, guolaosi, iatrogenic, invigilator, negentropic, noctilucent, otiosity, oxymorous, paleologos, parvenue, Pelagian, polyphagi, quiddity, Sehnsucht, Selbstdenker, synecdoche, thereanent, theriantropes, xerophobia
posted by rushmc at 12:08 AM on January 21, 2003

I dare you to use three of those in a single sentence.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:37 AM on January 21, 2003

"Invigilator, negentropic, and noctilucent are all interesting words."
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:41 AM on January 21, 2003

lol Pink
posted by rushmc at 9:49 AM on January 21, 2003

"Even in the darkened hall, the invigilator (perhaps with noctilucent eyes) was able to ferret out the cheaters to great negentropic effect."

Ehhh. Someone else?
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:01 AM on January 21, 2003

I challenge guolaosi and parvenue. Sample Google result for the first:
"Chinese newspapers even have a term for it — guolaosi — meaning 'overwork death.' "
It's a neat word, but it ain't English.

And for the second:
"United Airlines est parvenue à un accord avec le syndicat des mécaniciens."
It's not even a particularly neat word; it just means 'arrived' (in the feminine). But I'll assume it's a typo for "parvenu," which is English. So:

"The theriantropes bloviated endlessly about the American Werewolf in London, calling him a mere parvenu."

--The Linguistic Invigilator
posted by languagehat at 10:23 AM on January 21, 2003

It's a neat word, but it ain't English.

Anyone else have "pet" words that they enjoy using, much to the bafflement of others?

I didn't see any limitations to English in that exhortation. Anyway, with enough use, it can become as English as "glasnost." As for your second challenge, I submit dictionary.com:

parvenue

adj 1: characteristic of someone who has risen economically or socially but lacks the social skills appropriate for this new position [syn: nouveau-riche, parvenu, upstart(a)] 2: of or characteristic of a parvenu [syn: parvenu]
posted by rushmc at 11:14 AM on January 21, 2003

OK, you got me on "parvenue" (grumble mutter).

I didn't see any limitations to English in that exhortation.

Oh goody! OK, some of my favorites are bukvoed, pibe, chikusho, and qiguai.
posted by languagehat at 11:44 AM on January 21, 2003

Mmm...unfamiliar...somewhat exotic...but quite tasty!
posted by rushmc at 1:48 PM on January 21, 2003