Happy New Year and welcome to the Wondrous Words Wednesday meme. Today I’ve gotten
my words from Merriam-Webster.com – the site recently released its list of Top Ten Words for 2012. Wanna know something funny? Meme made the list!
Merriam-Webster annually generates a list of words most often looked up at its site. This year, unsurprisingly, over half the words were inspired by the presidential election. Apparently, many people needed to clarify concepts like socialism, capitalism, and democracy.
On one hand, I’m disturbed; shouldn’t people know these words already? But, I guess I’m glad those who were unclear made the effort to learn…
The Merriam-Webster Words of the Year
- socialism and capitalism
- touche
- bigot
- marriage
- democracy
- professionalism
- globalization
- malarkey
- schadenfreude
- meme
A few notes of interest:
- malarkey gained attention after Joe Biden used it in a debate with Paul Ryan; it means foolish talk
- schadenfreude is a noun, from the German schaden damage + freude joy; it means joy obtained from the troubles of others (how awful!)
- meme (rhymes with beam) was first used in 1975 and it refers to an idea, behavior, style or usage that spreads from person to person through a culture
- John M. Morse, President and Publisher at Merriam-Webster.com suggested that touche has grown in popularity because more Americans participate in “verbal jousting”, especially via social media.
I cheer at the thought of people using vocabulary to duel- as long as it’s not too mean. Go word nerds!
For another article on words of the year, see this NPR article on the American Dialect Society as it prepares to choose a word of the year.
Word Nerd Workout
Use one of M-W’s words from 2012 in a sentence. My example:
While we punished our youngest son, my daughter watched gleefully, the schadenfreude clear on her face.
I’m sure that never happens in your family.
Happy New Year!
My dad was always claiming us kids were full of malarky! Also, full of prunes, and that we didn’t know what we were talking about. I learned tons of vocabulary from my dad…
Thanks for this post!
What a fun post to read! I think it’s hilarious that people had to look up ‘malarkey’, on the other hand it took me the longest time to understand ‘meme’ even after looking it up LOL.
Yes- meme still eludes me – even as I actively participate in one! I’ve been thinking of you- I saw The Hobbit this weekend and also news about the adaptation of The Great Gatsby for the screen. Will have to stop by your site…
I use my online dictionary when checking spelling while blogging. Some sites do not have spell check and I hate it when my brain has a “freeze” and can’t remember the spelling of a perfectly easy word!. So maybe not so much not knowing what marriage or democracy are as the correct spelling?
Of course, that assumption could be just a bunch of “malarkey”!
Good point Judy, and good use of malarkey as well!
I love the word touche, and I love that the Merriam-Webster people said it has grown in popularity because people are doing more “verbal jousting”. 🙂
Me too! 🙂
Marriage and democracy were on the list? What the…?? Wow.
My workout: One of my favorite things about Facebook is the proliferation of memes. Any time you feel out of the loop, you can find a meme to educate you.”
As for your example? It’s still happening, and mine are in their 20s… 😉
Happy New Year to my favorite Word Nerd. Looking forward to seeing you soon!
Susan,
Thanks for the warning- I guess parenting is a continual challenge. Thanks for contributing great workout sentences. I look forward to seeing you, my favorite tech guru, sometime soon.
I love this post! Am I right in thinking those are the words that have been looked up on their site the most often this year? If so, I’m like you, a little concerned that people didn’t know them already. Here’s my sentence: I really enjoyed the Ryan Gosling internet meme for a while!
Yes Kathy, the list is based on words most often looked up- a little frightening, I know. I think many enjoyed the Ryan Gosling meme! :). Thanks for hosting!
I certainly did 🙂