App (short for application and referring to a computer program) was declared 'word of the year' by the American Dialect Society a couple of days ago. It narrowly beat 'nom', as said by Sesame Street's Cookie Monster as he wolfs down something delicious. Junk, WikiLeaks and trend also made the final shortlist.
Tweet was the word that won last year, and Google was 'word of the decade'. Winning 'words' in previous years have included 9/11 (in 2001) and e (in 1998; yes, just the one letter e, as in email, ecommerce etc).
Anyone could nominate a word and submit it to the American Dialect Society. Tea bagger, refudiate and mama grizzly were all nominated. Refudiate got a special mention in the 'most unnecessary' category, along with ironic moustache (facial hair worn as a statement of retro hipsterdom) and star whacker (imagined celebrity killer, as alleged by actor Randy Quaid and his wife). In the 'most creative' category were spillionaire (person made rich by money from BP’s spill clean-up fund), and prehab (pre-emptive enrolment in a rehab facility to prevent relapse of an abuse problem).
Full story and more words here.
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