Feature

A Decade’s Detritus: Words

 

2010: Shovel-ready, transparent/transparency, czar, tweet, app, sexting, “friend” as a verb, teachable moment, in these economic times ... , stimulus, toxic assets, too big to fail, bromance, chillaxin’

2009: Maverick, staycation, bailout, desperate search, green, Wall Street / Main Street, not so much, carbon footprint / carbon offsetting, <3, icon or iconic, game changer

2008: Perfect storm, waterboarding, organic, wordsmith/wordsmithing, author/authored, post 9/11, surge, give back

2007: Gitmo, combined celebrity names, awesome, pwn/pwned, we’re pregnant, undocumented alien, truthiness, ask your doctor, chipotle, “i-”anything

2006: Surreal, hunker down, person of interest, community of learners, up or down vote, FEMA, junk science, git-er done, dawg, talking points, holiday tree

2005: Blue states / red states, flip flop (-er, -ing), battleground state, pockets of resistance, improvised explosive device, enemy combatant, carbs, you’re fired!, über, “izzle”-speak, wardrobe malfunction, blog, webinar, safe and effective, erectile disfunction, body wash

2004: Metrosexual, X, punked, bling or bling bling, LOL, embedded journalist, smoking gun, shock and awe, captured alive, shots rang out, ripped from the headlines, hand-crafted latte, sanitary landfill

2003: Marital breach, on the ground, weapons of mass destruction, homeland security, extreme, now more than ever, branding, challenge, it’s a good thing, as per, reverse discrimination, got game, undisclosed secret location

2002: disenfranchise, surgical strike, friendly fire, bring them to justice, faith-based, bipartisanship, anything modified by “Doppler,” 9/11, If ... then the terrorists win, synergy, ramp up, edgy, functionality, killer app, reality TV, in the wake of ... , no-brainer

2001: Speaks to, celebrate, fuzzy math, chad, going forward, negative growth, manual recount by hand, academically fragile, shaken up, dot.com, leverage, factoid, dude, diva

2000: millennium, 24/7, thinking outside the box, “e-” anything, cybrarian, segue, quality of life, for the children, at risk, sea change, wake-up call, adding “-ing” to words like action and solution