Gangnam Style in words of year list
The global hit, Gangnam Style, along with mummy porn and fiscal cliff has been chosen among the best new words of this year.
Reflecting the news trends of the year, Collins Dictionary has chosen 12 words of the year, one each for every month, to highlight the constant evolution of the English language. This year, the dictionary had opened up its word submission process to the public for new word suggestions and till now almost 7,400 new words have been submitted to the dictionary and the chosen ones will be published in its online version.
South Korean musician Psy’s global hit Gangnam Style made it to the word of the year list for its mass appeal. It was picked as the word for November, when the video of the song became the most viewed video on YouTube, with close to a billion views.
The song has also spawned many spoofs in countries across the globe, with students in Eton, scientists at Nasa, soldiers in Afghanistan, all filming mock tributes.
The London Olympics and the pomp and pageantry of Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond jubilee led to selection of Jubilympics for June and game makers, the vast group of volunteers in London during the 2012 Games, for August.
The economic crisis in Europe led to Eurogeddon being chosen as the word for March. The second bailout package was announced for Greece in March, which fuelled fears and debate across the region. The rise of pornographic novels led to the choice of mummy porn for April, when the first book in debut writer E.L. James’s Fifty Shades trilogy was published.
Fifty Shades of Grey was launched in April, changing the genre of erotic fiction forever.
The US elections contributed a slew of new words like Romneyshambles, the word for July, fiscal cliff for December and 47 per cent for September.
US presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s series of gaffes during his London led to creation of a new word, “Romneyshambles.” Romney was secretly taped at a private fundraiser saying that 47 per cent of Americans would vote for President Barack Obama no matter what because they are dependent on the government.
The video and phrase spread virally and “47 per cent” became a key phrase of the election.
The disastrous Facebook IPO led to creation of Zuckered in May, after the social networking website founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Broga, a new form of yoga tailored distinctly to men, was the word for January, for October the word was superstorm after the devastating storm Sandy, and actress Angelina Jolie’s leg jutting out of her high-slit dress led to creation of legbomb.
Each of these words was submitted to Collins online dictionary at some point during this year. Some of them like brogan and mummy porn have been published already as a reflection of their frequency, breadth, and period of use.
Words like Eurogeddon, superstorm, Gangnam Style and fiscal cliff are “candidates,” which will be added to the online dictionary in the next site update.
Words like legbomb, jubilympics, game makers, and 47 per cent are “under review,” meaning that evidence of use is continuing to grow and be collected, while others like Zuckered and Romneyshambles have been “rejected” based on the dictionary’s criteria for inclusion.
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