Newspapers, linguists, politicos, magazines and blogs are always looking for end-of-year hooks for stories. One perennial favorite is to choose\u2014unilaterally, or via a poll or reader suggestions\u2014the word or phrase that either best characterizes the past year or that went viral for one reason or another. The American Dialect Society\u00a0 sponsors an annual contest<\/a>, to which the public can contribute its nominees. ADS\u2019s guidelines for nominated words offer a good framework for evaluation: \u00a0According to ADS, the best \u201cword of the year\u201d [WOTY] candidates are:<\/p>\n

\u2014 demonstrably new or newly popular in 2011
\n\u2014 widely and\/or prominently used in 2011
\n\u2014 indicative or reflective of the popular discourse<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

ADS will announce its winners on January 5. Until then, here are some options\u2014suggested by other sites and groups\u2014that seem worthy of consideration:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cOccupy\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

National Public Radio\u2019s [NPR] resident linguist, Geoff Nunberg says, \u201cIf the word of the year is supposed to be an item that has actually shaped the perception of important events, I can’t see going with anything but occupy<\/em>. It was a late entry, but since mid-September it has gone viral and global\u2026Occupy <\/em>is that rare linguistic phenomenon, a word that bubbles up out of nowhere and actually helps to create the very thing it names.\u201d Nunberg\u2019s full explanation<\/a> of his reasoning offers an excellent analysis of the linguistic and political implications of his nominee.<\/p>\n

\u201cTergiversate\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hard to pronounce [<\/em>“ter-JIV-er-sate”<\/em> ], and outside the everyday vocabulary of most people, it means \u00a0\u201cto change repeatedly one’s attitude or opinions with respect to a cause, subject, etc.; equivocate.\u201d It\u2019s Dictionary.com\u2019s word of the year<\/a>. The panel of editors who chose it describe their decision this way:<\/p>\n

We could say that, in 2011, the stock market tergiversated; or that the public tergiversated about Occupy Wall Street\u2026”This word encompasses a sense of ‘flip flopping’ but it also implies a number of other complicating forces. Unlike ‘flip flop’, ‘tergiversate’ suggests a lack of intentionality – it’s a change in state more out of necessity, as new events happen at great speed, whether in the economy, politics or attitudes.”<\/p>\n

The word’s origins come from the Latin for “to turn one’s back”. Though not in common usage, it was utilized by The Times of London<\/em> in August to describe the changing attitudes of stock markets.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dictionary.com\u2019s panel also considered “occupy,” “austerity,” “jobs” (both the noun and the person), “zugzwang<\/a>” and “insidious<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

\u201cVolatility\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cVolatility may not be trendy like \u201coccupy\u201d or \u201cArab Spring,\u201d but it’s the one word that characterizes the bipolar mood of 2011 in everything from politics to economics,\u201d writes Dennis Brown, on his blog, The Web of Language:<\/a><\/p>\n

Volatility describes the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street; the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; scandals in college sports and investment banking; the Republican presidential scramble and the Greek debt crisis; regime change in Libya and in Italy; the Iranian nuclear build-up and the Fukushima nuclear melt-down.<\/p>\n

Throughout the year, the Dow Jones Index has been the poster-child for volatility, jumping up and down by hundreds of points like a high-stakes game of Chutes and Ladders. Indeed, given the daily shake ups not just of the year that was, but of the ten years since 9\/11, volatility could well be the word of the decade, and with no end.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cSqueezed middle\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Never heard of it? Yeah, me neither. That\u2019s because it\u2019s a phrase more in use across the pond\u2014in England\u2014than in the U.S. But, it\u2019s the word [or should we say phrase] of the year chosen by Oxford Press.<\/a><\/p>\n

Squeezed middle: the section of society regarded as particularly affected by inflation, wage freezes, and cuts in public spending during a time of economic difficulty, consisting principally of those people on low or middle incomes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Runners-up on the Oxford list were: \u201carab spring,\u201d \u201cbunga bunga\u201d [see: Berlusconi<\/em>], \u201cclicktivism,\u201d \u201ccrowdfunding,\u201d \u201cfracking,\u201d\u00a0 “gamification”<\/a> [wha?], \u201coccupy,\u201d \u201cthe 99%,\u201d\u201d tiger mother\u201d and \u201csifi” [huh?]. That last one may not win WOTY, and it\u2019s really acronym, but it\u2019s one that, in current, global economic times, might be a concept to keep in mind. It means: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/strong>a bank or other financial institution regarded as so vital to the functioning of the overall economy that it cannot be allowed to fail. [Acronym from systemically important financial institution<\/em>. Pronounced “SIFF-ee”, rhyming with “jiffy”.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Previously, on WOTY\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>A look at the past decade\u2019s WOTY list<\/a> from the American Dialect Society is a trip down America\u2019s cultural and political memory lane.<\/p>\n

2010: app<\/p>\n

2009: tweet<\/p>\n

2008: bailout<\/p>\n

2007: subprime<\/p>\n

2006: plutoed<\/p>\n

2005: truthiness<\/p>\n

2004: red state\/blue state\/purple state<\/p>\n

2003: metrosexual<\/p>\n

2002: WMD<\/p>\n

2001: 9-11<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But if this year\u2019s word of the year doesn\u2019t become part of your everyday vocabulary[\u201cTergiversate?\u201d Really?], don\u2019t worry. Many previous WOTY\u2019s didn\u2019t stick around long, either. Mental Floss offers the following list of dead, shortlisted WOTY\u2019s<\/a> that must have seemed trendy at the time, but now occupy space in the dead-word dust heap. They include:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cBushlips, 1990. [See \u201cread my lips.\u201d]<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMeatspace,\u201d 1995 [It was supposed to refer to the \u201creal\u201d world, as opposed to cyberspace.]<\/p>\n

\u201cIntexticated,\u201d 2009 [Shorlisted by Oxford Dictionaries, but ultimately defeated by \u201cunfriend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMillennium bug,\u201d 1997 [This phrase had a short run, especially because the expected global financial disaster predicted for 2000 never happened. In 1999, \u201cY2K\u201d got more play.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

See ya’ next year. I plan to still occupy this spot in 2012, without tergiversating. My middle, however, could use a bit of squeezing.<\/p>\n

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