WOTY 2010 and IWOTY 2010

Ever since 1991, when the American Dialect Society (ADS) introduced the practice of announcing the Word of the Year (WOTY) at the end of each year, several other dictionaries and language societies like the Global Language Monitor (GLM) have been inviting suggestions, holding polls to designate their WOTY.

The selected words could be a single word or a couple of words (e.g. information superhighway) or even a phrase (e.g. weapons of mass destruction). We even witnessed a date in history represented in the figures 9-11 in the Year 2001, following a disastrous terrorist attack in the US.

The ADS choices of word of the year are the following:
• 1990: bushlips (similar to "bullshit" – stemming from President George H. W. Bush's 1988 "Read my lips: no new taxes" broken promise)
• 1991: The mother of all (as in Saddam Hussein's foretold "Mother of all battles")
• 1992: Not! (meaning "just kidding")
• 1993: information superhighway
• 1994: cyber morph (to change form)
• 1995: Web and (to) newt (to act aggressively as a newcomer).
• 1996: mom (as in "soccer mom").
• 1997: millennium bug.
• 1998: e- (as in "e-mail").
• 1999: Y2K.
• 2000: chad (from the 2000 Presidential Election controversy in Florida).
• 2001: 9-11
• 2002: weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
• 2003: metrosexual.
• 2004: red state, blue state, purple state (from the 2004 presidential election).
• 2005: truthiness, popularized on The Colbert Report.
• 2006: plutoed (demoted or devalued, as happened to the former planet Pluto).
• 2007: subprime (an adjective used to describe a risky or less than ideal loan, mortgage, or investment).
• 2008: bailout (a rescue by government of a failing corporation)
• 2009: tweet (a short message sent via the Twitter service)

While some of the WOTYs like information superhighway, millenium bug, Web did become a popular word in the Indian texts, albeit with a time lag due, chiefly, to the delay in ushering in the era of technological advancements in our country, the WOTY 1999, Y2K not only significantly related to Indians, but was also a source of major economic development as Indian software companies grew largely on the back of huge orders at the turn of the last century. But most of the other WOTYs have not been truly representative of the times for Indian readers, writers or bloggers, such as those in 1990, 1992, ‘96,2000, 2004, 2005 in particular.
The ADS is yet to announce the WOTY which is scheduled for the 7th Jan 2011 at Pittsburgh. Read details about its voting process here.

The Global Language Monitor (GLM)

Read the Top 10 words of 2010 by GLM here.
On Top Spot is:
1. Spillcam — The BP Spillcam instantly beamed the immensity of the Gulf Spill around the world to the dismay of environmentalists, BP’s PR staff and the President.

It is amusing to find Sarah Palin’s mix-up being accepted as a neologism and more importantly a candidate for WOTY. The unintentional coinage of “Refudiate” (Refute + Repudiate) is listed at Rank 4. And although not many of the listed words I could relate, perhaps due to lack of regional context (my euphemism for being an ignoramus), I persisted to read upto the bottom of the list and found a gem - the last listed one at Rank 10 caught my attention and won my admiration –
10 -“Simplexity” – The paradox of simplifying complex ideas in order to make them easier to understand, the process of which only adds to their complexity.
My personal vote goes to Rank 10!

The Top Phrases of 2010
1. Anger and Rage – Characterizations of the US electorate by the pundits, though closer analyses has revealed more frustration and disappointment. Also witnessed in France, Spain and Greece.

Although there is enough of this in India over the volley of scams under which citizens find themselves being buried in, the phrase doesn’t seem to be as popular. Thanks to the several cartoonists, standup comedians and humorists, we seem to be enjoying every bit of the jokes going around rather than the rage, anger, frustration or disappointment that one finds in the chosen POTY 2010. (P=Phrase).

The New Oxford American Dictionary goes for “Refudiate” as its WOTY 2010
Read the other contenders here.

The Indian Word of the Year 2010

It is in this context and with this background that one feels that an Indian Word of the Year (IWOTY) is the need of the times!

So I began with asking my friends on FB and Twitter to suggest the Word of the Year 2010. Suggestions so far recorded for consideration:
1. SCAMINDIA 2010 – This is how the year will be remembered – Nandakumar Hattangadi.
2. Tainted – This is how most of the politicians were described in 2010 – Nagesh Aroor.
3. Scam – The most used word in the year on all forms of media – Manju Joglekar and BK Chowla.
4. Spectrum Raja – Just a way to remember the Raja of all Scams and the wide spectrum of scams on offer in 2010 – Akshay Bangera
5. ScamaRaja - A new coinage for the same Raja we are talking about this year.
6. Corruption - The widely spread word and phenomenon to reckon with in 2010 -T Rajkumar
7. Munni – the winner of the Munni-Sheela debate on Twitter suggested by Vinod Sharma.

Do post your choice of the IWOTY 2010 in the comment space if you have not yet done so on my Facebook Note or Twitter appeal.
Thank you for being part of the New Wave – IWOTY!

Watch this blog for more on the IWOTY 2010!

Wishing all a Very Happy, Prosperous, Safe, Peaceful and Fulfilling New Year and a great DECADE ahead!