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Your support makes all the difference.The Global Language Monitor announced the Top Words, Phrases and Names of 2010 with "spillcam" topping the US survey. Also included are vuvuzela, snowmageddon, 3D, while simplexity rounds out the Top 10 list.
The most-used "Word of the Decade," according to the English language analysis - with a US-centric slant - remains "climate change," another environmental disaster.
These top terms reflect the issues and events used by the media among a growing language now used by more than 1.58 billion speakers. "We track billions of Web pages, billions of blogs, tens of thousands of social media sites, and 75,000 electronic and print media," Paul Payack, president of the GLM told National Public Radio.
Top words:
1. Spillcam - BP's camera on the Gulf oil rig's gusher at 100,000 barrels per day
2. Vuvuzela - brightly colored plastic horns popular at the South African World Cup
3. The Narrative - gaining traction in politics to replace a party's platform
4. Refudiate - combines "refute" and "repudiate," accidentally coined by Sarah Palin
5. Guido and Guidette - male and females from The Jersey Shore, MTV's reality show
6. Deficit - growing and intractable problem for economies
7. Snowmaggedden or Snowpocalypse - record snowfalls in the US and Europe
8. 3-D - three-dimensional films doing big box office used to describe robust products
9. Shellacking - President Obama's term for Democrats losses in US mid-term elections
10. Simplexity - a paradox of simplifying complex ideas, only to make them confusing
Top names of 2010:
1. President Hu Jintao of China
2. iPad
3. Barack Obama, US President
4. Chilean Coal Miners - the top inspirational story of the year
5. Eyjafjallajoekull - unpronounceable name aka Iceland's volcanic erupction
6. Nancy Pelosi - deposed Speaker of the US House of Representatives
7. Sarkozy - French President Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa
8. Tea Party - leaderless movement in US politics voicing the angst of the electorate
9. Jersey Shore - the MTV reality show about Italians on "The Shore" of New Jersey
10. David Cameron and Nick Clegg - UK's new coalition government
Popular phrases include "The Great Recession," referring to the global economic restructuring, "teachable moment," the turning of an undesirable outcome into a positive opportunity, and "Lady Gaga," the buzzword of the entertainment business, in 2010.
The Austin, Texas-based outfit documents, analyzes and tracks language trends and the impact on culture, particularly with global English, factoring in frequency, context, long- and short-term changes, and momentum.
http://www.languagemonitor.com
RC
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