#WaterCoolerChat: ‘Hashtag’ Is Word of the Year
Posted for Communication Research Associates, Inc.
Choose Local
Fiscal cliff. A scary image designed to motivate policymakers to clean up the nation’s books. Possibly the most used word of the last several months, but not the word/acronym/phrase of the year, according to the American Dialect Society.
Nope. In the Society’s 23rd annual words of the year vote, hashtag triumphed over fiscal cliff and YOLO (which, for the uninitiated, is short for “you only live once”). Hashtag also beat Gangnam style, marriage equality, and 47 percent.
“This was the year when the hashtag became a ubiquitous phenomenon in online talk,” said Ben Zimmer, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society and language columnist for the Boston Globe.
To make the cut for the American Dialect Society’s voting, words or phrases do not have to be brand new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year. Members of the society include linguists, lexicographers, etymologists, grammarians, historians, researchers, writers, editors, students and independent scholars. In conducting the vote, they do not pretend to be inducting words into the English language. Instead, they are highlighting that language is normal, ongoing and entertaining.
The Society conducted voting in other categories as well. One phrase – legitimate rape — had the distinction of winning in two categories, “most unnecessary” and “most outrageous.” Marriage equality was deemed “most likely to succeed.”
The Society’s words of the year have pretty good staying power. The 2010 word was tweet; the word of the decade in 2010 was google. Other winners have included app, bailout, subprime and plutoed.
What’s wonderful about language is that it’s organic – it’s constantly being changed and refreshed by its speakers and the events they live through. Still, many people struggle with writing, especially in the workplace. When you need assistance presenting your “words of the year,” call on Communication Research Associates. We have decades of experience in corporate and non-profit communication. For support with polished business communication, contact us — because words matter.
