Put Some New Words in Your Mouth

Want to increase your vocabulary and stay hip at the same time? Check out the newly named “word of the year” and the finalists recently announced by Oxford American Dictionary researchers. Oxford annually tracks how the English language is changing. They review newly birthed terms and ultimately select one word every year that “reflects the ethos of the year and its lasting potential as a word of cultural significance and use.” Word of the year finalists included:

• Netbook: a small portable laptop
• Hashtag: The symbol (#) used on Twitter posts to allow them to be found more easily by other users
• Sexting: The act of sending sexually explicit texts or photos on a mobile phone
• Paywall: Blocking parts of a Web site to all but paying customers
• Intexicated: Being distracted while driving because of sending a text message.
• Zombie bank: A financial institution still operating even though its liabilities are greater than its assets,
• Birther: A conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s U.S. birth certificate

…and the winner (for all of you Facebook and social media fans) is:

• Unfriend: To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace

According to Christine Lindberg, a language researcher at Oxford, “Unfriend has both currency and potential longevity. In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.”

Now that you know the new word of the year, put it in use. Experts say that’s the best way to add a word to your vocabulary. Take each one of these words and use them in a sentence over the next few days, and you’ll be speaking the new lingo in no time!