[lg policy] Wordpocalypse! 'Selfie, ' 'twerk' top list of most annoying words of 2013.

Wed Jan 1 16:44:12 UTC 2014

Wordpocalypse! 'Selfie,' 'twerk' top list of most annoying words of 2013.

Seen one too many 'selfies' of the Kardashians or still recovering from
Miley Cyrus's 'twerk'-fest at the MTV Video Music Awards? You are not alone.

By Mark Guarino <http://www.csmonitor.com/About/Staff/Mark-Guarino>, Staff
writer / December 31, 2013

   -
   <http://www.csmonitor.com/var/ezflow_site/storage/images/media/content/2013/1231-justin-bieber-selfie/17740467-1-eng-US/1231-Justin-Bieber-selfie_full_600.jpg>

  Singer Justin Bieber takes a 'selfie' with a fan at the premiere of the
feature film 'Justin Bieber's Believe' at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live in Los
Angeles earlier this month.

Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP

Sorry Justin Bieber. Uploading your mug to millions of followers is now
deemed officially annoying.
  Related stories

   -
   <http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2013/0812/1912-eighth-grade-exam-Could-you-make-it-to-high-school-in-1912>
   1912 eighth grade exam: Could you make it to high school in
1912?<http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2013/0812/1912-eighth-grade-exam-Could-you-make-it-to-high-school-in-1912>

 That’s because “selfie” tops the 2013 List of Words to be Banished from
the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse, and General Uselessness. The
annual list, which started in 1975, is released every New Year’s Eve by
Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.

Catapulting to the top of more than 2,000 nominations, “selfie” gained
momentum to due the convergence of social networks and smartphone
technology, which enabled widespread cultural narcissism. Now with the
ability to take self-portraits and send-and-spread via a host of outlets
like Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, “selfie” has entered the
lexicon once ruled by “amazing” (2011), “24/7” (2000) “mute point” (1990),
and other past winners.

RECOMMENDED: 1912 eighth grade exam: Could you make it to high school in
1912?<http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2013/0812/1912-eighth-grade-exam-Could-you-make-it-to-high-school-in-1912>

Tom Pink, a university spokesman, says that “selfie” and “twerk” (the
second most overused word of 2013) benefited from being associated with
images. The overuse of smartphone snaps by Mr. Bieber, the Kardashian clan,
and other reality show celebrities is one example. The cringe-worthy,
attention-craving performance of Miley Cyrus at a televised awards show in
August is another.

“Since there is a larger image that goes with [the words], they get on
people’s nerves more quickly,” Mr. Pink says. “A lot of people used the
word ‘selfish’ when they were talking about what it was that made them so
annoyed.”

“Selfie” also gained notoriety inside the Beltway when President Obama
participated in a group self-portrait, accompanied by British Prime
Minister David Cameron and Denmark Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt at
Nelson Mandela’s memorial earlier this month. For that moment, captured by
a news photographer, Obama earned the derisive nickname “President Selfie.”

The list began as a New Year’s Eve game concocted by former Lake Superior
State University public relations director Bill Rabe to promote the
school’s national name recognition. In the pre-Internet era, the university
used to receive as many as 800 nominations by letter or postcard. Online
media has more than doubled submissions via the university website, Pink
says.

This year, “selfie” and “twerk” are joined by the following:

*Hashtag*: Once called the pound symbol, the name originated as a Twitter
tool to expand a conversation, but now is injected everywhere, from
advertising to actual verbal conversations.

*Twittersphere*: Again, the influence of Twitter, used to describe whole
swaths of the public engaged in debate.

*Mister Mom:* A throwback to the 1983 Michael Keaton movie of the same
name, Pink says that mainly men nominated this phrase, which is back in
popularity due to the rising number of stay-at-home fathers.

*T-Bone:* Not the meat on your plate, but a common description of a vehicle
wreck.

*Obamacare*: Once the Obama administration embraced the term to describe
the Affordable Care Act, it permeated the ongoing debate.

*Any word ending in “-ageddon” or “-pocalypse” *such as “snowmageddon” or
“snowpocalypse.” Here, the blame can be attributed to the confluence of
weather upheaval and cable news hype.

A complete list can be found at lssu.edu/banished.

Pink says that it’s common for banished words to hang around long after
their popularity.

“We ask ourselves every year: ‘How long before our list is banished?’” he
says. “But people feel very passionate about the language. If there wasn’t
this outlet, think about how much more violence there could be in the
world.”

RECOMMENDED: 1912 eighth grade exam: Could you make it to high school in
1912?<http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Family/2013/0812/1912-eighth-grade-exam-Could-you-make-it-to-high-school-in-1912>

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Society/2013/1231/Wordpocalypse!-Selfie-twerk-top-list-of-most-annoying-words-of-2013

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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