WOTY? beelzebufo

Joel S. Berson Berson at ATT.NET
Thu Feb 21 15:07:08 UTC 2008


I did inquire if there were subcategories.  "Names of newly
discovered life forms"?  "Most fun new word"?  Or perhaps "fastest to
reach 100,000 Google hits"?  (More than halfway there already--but
still no Googled book.)

Joel

At 2/21/2008 06:57 AM, Dennis Preston wrote:
>Now David, chill dude. We have (and often invent) categories
>(remember Tom Hanks words?) that include items for their
>outrageousness, beauty, etc..., and they have no chance of being
>WOTY. Maybe we should go for the silliest word of the year (although
>that would doubtless prompt an arcane discussion, amongst those given
>to such diversion, on the precise distinction between those that fit
>into the category "silliest" and "least useful" (and others of our
>ever-changing distinctions).
>
>dInIs
>
>
>
>>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>Poster:       Barnhart <barnhart at HIGHLANDS.COM>
>>Subject:      Re: WOTY? beelzebufo
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>For WOTY???  This doesn't even come close.  WOTYs are supposed to
>>characterize the year some how.  Tell me, how does this characterize the
>>events of 2008?
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
>>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
>--
>Dennis R. Preston
>University Distinguished Professor
>Department of English
>Morrill Hall 15-C
>Michigan State University
>East Lansing, MI 48864 USA
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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