purpose of WOTY contests

[aallan at AOL.COM]

I think I can claim credit for parenting the Frankenvote on WOTY back in 1990, when it occurred to me that if Time magazine can name a person of the year, surely the vocabularians of ADS can choose a word of the year with even better claim to expertise. John Algeo, then the conductor of Among the New Words in American Speech, provided the ammunition, though the results did not always please him. It was for our own amusement, but also occasionally an opportunity for revealing our lexerdemain to the public at large. ADS membership did not soar, but neither did it decline on account of WOTY, and it continues to draw a goodly audience at the LSA-ADS meeting, perhaps because it's immediately followed by the Bring-Your-Own-Book reception. - Allan Metcalf


-----Original Message-----
From: barnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Sent: Mon, 4 Sep 2006 11:18 AM
Subject: Re: [ADS-L] purpose of WOTY contests


My recollection (as one of the original three perpetrators of the
WOTY--called by some a crime against scholarship) was that living in the
shadow of MLA we wanted some publicity.  And over the years we seem to
have achieved that.  Whether it's captured new membership only Allan can
reveal.  I don't think it's ever satisfied everybody.

Regards,
David
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