Words of the Year and the Century

[Jane Clark]

The AdS words of the year are positively boring and obsolete. Perhaps ABC et
al are listing words from the book because they are so much more
interesting. Sounds like the ADS needs to pay more attention to what people
are saying, not what they are reading in obscure publications.


>From: AAllan at AOL.COM
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Words of the Year and the Century
>Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 09:38:45 EST
>
>ABC was confused. Since that seems to spread the confusion worldwide,
>here's
>the explanation I just sent to Grant Barrett. - Allan Metcalf
>
>ABC was misled by the list of words of the 20th century that came not from
>ADS but from the book by David Barnhart and me. We used our list as
>nominees;
>the Chicago Tribune printed that list, with proper attribution; but ABC,
>picking it up from the Tribune, thought it was ADS choices.
>
>The American Dialect Society has been choosing Words of the Year since
>1990.
>Two of the organizers of the Word of the Year vote, David K. Barnhart and
>Allan A. Metcalf, published their own personal choices for words of the
>year
>in the whole history of American English in their book _America in So Many
>Words_ (Houghton Mifflin, 1997 and 1999). They offered these words from the
>1900s as their own nominees for Words of the Century:
>
>1900    phony
>1901    grass roots
>1902    goo
>1903    highbrow
>1904    cut the mustard
>1905    jellybean
>1906    muckraker
>1906    teddy bear
>1907    melting pot
>1908    asleep at the switch
>1909    pork barrel
>1910    barbershop
>1911    blues
>1912    movies
>1913    jazz
>1914    backpack
>1915    flapper
>1916    IQ
>1917    GI
>1918    D Day
>1919    T shirt
>1920    normalcy
>1921    media
>1922    cold turkey
>1923    hijack
>1924    brainstorm
>1925    motel
>1926    Bible Belt
>1927    macho
>1928    athlete’s foot
>1929    jalopy
>1930    bulldozer
>1931    skid row
>1932    hopefully
>1933    supermarket
>1934    whistlestop
>1935    boondoggle
>1936    streamline
>1937    groovy
>1938    teenager
>1939    juke box
>1940    jeep
>1941    multicultural
>1942    gizmo
>1943    acronym
>1944    snafu
>1945    showbiz
>1946    iron curtain, cold war
>1947    babysit
>1948    cybernetics
>1949    cool
>1950    DJ
>1951    rock and roll
>1952    Ms.
>1953    UFO
>1954    fast food
>1955    hotline
>1956    brinkmanship
>1957    role model
>1958    Murphy’s Law
>1959    software
>1960    sit-in
>1961    biodegradable
>1962    carpool
>1963    duh
>1964    swing voter
>1965    affirmative action
>1966    credibility gap
>1967    ripoff
>1968    aerobics
>1969    sexism and ageism
>1970    bottom line
>1971    workaholic
>1972    Watergate
>1973    sound bite
>1974    streak
>1975    substance
>1976    couch potato
>1977    loony tunes
>1978    geek
>1979    stealth
>1980    gridlock
>1981    wannabe
>1982    like
>1983    greenmail
>1984    yuppie
>1985    rocket scientist
>1986    dis
>1987    codependency
>1988    envelope, push the
>1989    virtual reality
>1990    PC
>1991    about
>1992    Not!
>1993    newbie
>1994    go postal
>1995    newt
>1996    soccer mom
>1997    Ebonics
>1998    millennium bug

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