[Ads-l] WOTY nominations

[Laurence Horn]

On Jan 7, 2015, at 8:20 AM, Hugo wrote:

> I nominated these for 2013 but both were strong in 2014 so here they come
> again:
> 
> * bae

Some of you have no doubt seen the annual banned words list from Lake Superior State; it included "bae" and, if memory serves, "polar vortex".  "Hella" has been around as an adverb for years if not decades in places like Portland, so I fear it's WOTYhood momemt has passed.  (It's sometimes glossed as the West Coast version of adverbial "wicked".) 

For positive nominees, I've come across a number of mentions of "selfie stick", which I think is a viable candidate for most likely to succeed.


LH 

> * thot
> 
> These are "new" in 2014:
> 
> * on fleek
> * bruh
> * fuckboy
> * hella
> 
> These are all sourced from analysis of three Twitter bots that have been
> collecting words from Twitter for the past year. They've looked for certain
> sentences and extracted the X.
> 
> * @lovihatibot -- "I love/hate the word X"
> * @nixibot -- "X is not/isn't/ain't a word"
> * @favibot -- "X is my new favorite/favourite/fave word"
> 
> People talking about words ‒ especially new favourite  words, or loved
> words, or hated words, or words they've decided don't exist ‒ may be a good
> indicator of brand new words or at least words with new currency. Both
> increases and decreases may reflect an underlying change in use, and
> decreases may reflect an acceptance of the words.
> 
> * "Bae" and "thot" were numbers 1 and 2 in the combined charts of words.
> Both peaked in 2014.
> 
> * "Fleek", or more fully "on fleek", means on point, on the mark, stylish,
> amazing or impeccable. First mentioned in the bot logs in August 2014, it's
> still riding the peak. First used on Vine by Peaches Monroe in June 2014,
> it was later popularised by Ariana Grande, who sang out the Vine on MTV in
> August.
> 
> * Bruh (bro, brother), not a new word but picked up in March 2014, and
> peaked in June/July 2014. Use is likely spurred on by its use in a Vine
> clip from May 2014 and in lots of copied Vines.
> 
> * Likewise, "fuckboy" isn't new, but has seen increasing mentions as an
> anti-GamerGate pejorative.
> 
> * Finally, intensifier "hella" saw some use in 2013, but it increased in
> 2014 peaking between February and August.
> 
> More words and charts and bits here:
> * https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__laivakoira.typepad.com_blog_2015_01_twitter-2Dwoty-2D2014.html&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=4Pm3u-4xX_0KbYoMlg4U3N1Va6EhOHvK6yrjwwsl5pU&s=8hn_kD9c8bWdsr5kjY4zQsJ8--CZY5h9YHbnpDihQ3A&e= 
> 
> Follow along:
> * https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_lovihatibot&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=4Pm3u-4xX_0KbYoMlg4U3N1Va6EhOHvK6yrjwwsl5pU&s=XKUHZz0J6z5rc9hwCFUlUABnkrWzh3Dt-qQl5ZelgOU&e= 
> * https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_nixibot&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=4Pm3u-4xX_0KbYoMlg4U3N1Va6EhOHvK6yrjwwsl5pU&s=VvYwySzOc1jO2Il8Qi-MOEqGVDPv4WN8W4oj9q1DT7g&e= 
> * https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__twitter.com_favibot&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=4Pm3u-4xX_0KbYoMlg4U3N1Va6EhOHvK6yrjwwsl5pU&s=rgqdcr6u_Fji7kzLkob-x2LPLHwtOZdRbSENhbOSwhU&e= 
> 
> Hugo
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.americandialect.org&d=AwIFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=wFp3X4Mu39hB2bf13gtz0ZpW1TsSxPIWYiZRsMFFaLQ&m=4Pm3u-4xX_0KbYoMlg4U3N1Va6EhOHvK6yrjwwsl5pU&s=9YI08i1g4I2sw-F2parXdDEhOyNJBb8Rm5h-IwcoRC0&e= 

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