2008: Word Of The Year

December 6th, 2008 by Apurba Sen

Filed under behavior, blog citation, buzz word, definitions, Nielsen BlogPulse, social networking

If the most looked up words are any reflection of the mood of our society , it is no wonder that “bailout”—a word ubiquitously featured in discussions of the presidency & fiscal policy—took home honors as Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2008.

Bailout (noun): a rescue from financial distress

The origin of the word bailout here. Infact the top 10 list reflects politics & the economy were foremost on the minds of many Americans during 2008. For example – second on the list -“vet” means to evaluate a candidate’s suitability and qualifications for a position. And in third place, just in front of “maverick” – a word used during the long presidential campaign to describe Republican candidate John McCain – was the word “socialism”.

Bailout also won American Dialect Society’s word of the year contest.

With social media on rise all across the globe , there is just excess of personal information we are divulging on blogs & SN profiles. Not a big surprise again – “overshare” is Webster’s New World Dictionary’s word of the year.

Overshare (verb): to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval.

Blogs surged with “Oversharing” this year from a New York Times Magazine cover story in May by Emily Gould, a former editor of Gawker.com. Gould spilled the goods on her ongoing professional and romantic dramas on her own blog, and then wrote about the perils of oversharing: “Technology just enables us to overshare on a different scale.”

Two other candidates for Word of the Year 2008

Cyberchondriac (noun): a hypochondriac who imagines that he or she has a particular disease based on medical information gleaned from the Internet.
Selective Ignorance (noun): the practice of selectively ignoring distracting, irrelevant, or otherwise unnecessary information received, such as e-mails, news reports, etc.

Infact the words underscores that in the year 2008 has seen one element of ‘Attention Economy‘ shaping up – “consumer attention”. However privacy challenges are around. A recent IDG’s study found that only 3% of users surveyed are OK with publishers using their contact information for advertising.

Will 2009 be the year of “attention services”? Feel free to overshare in the comments!

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