M-W word of the year: 2008

Merriam-Webster's #1 Word of the Year for 2008:

1. bailout (noun)
a rescue from financial distress

2. vet
3. socialism
4. maverick
5. bipartisan
6. trepidation
7. precipice
8. rogue
9. misogyny
10. turmoil

With politics and the economy foremost on the minds of many, it is no wonder that bailout—a word ubiquitously featured in discussions of the presidency and fiscal policy—took home honors as Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2008.

Bailout, defined in Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition as "a rescue from financial distress," received the highest intensity of lookups on Merriam-Webster Online over the shortest period of time. As evident from the 2008 Word of the Year contenders list below, the presidential campaign and financial issues factored heavily in the concerns of our online visitors throughout the year.

Traffic to Merriam-Webster Online now exceeds 125 million individual page views per month. This corresponds to approximately ten lookup requests in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary or Thesaurus per second. During peak hours, this may increase to more than 100 requests per second.

(via m-w.com)

do you know what the difference between flammable and inflammible is?

I'm rolling on the floor. There is no difference.

abbr.

i.e. |ˈaɪ ˌi|
abbreviation
that is to say (used to add explanatory information or to state something in different words) : a walking boot that is synthetic, i.e., not leather or suede.
ORIGIN from Latin id est ‘that is.’

e.g.abbreviation
for example.
ORIGIN from Latin exempli gratia ‘for the sake of an example.’

etc. |ɛt ˌsɛdərə|
abbreviation
et cetera.
ORIGIN Latin, from et ‘and’ and cetera ‘the rest’ (neuter plural of ceterus ‘left over’ ).
USAGE Et cetera (a Latin phrase meaning 'and the other things, the rest') is sometimes mispronounced ': ex cetera,' and its abbreviation, properly etc., is often misspelled 'ect.' The phrase 'and et cetera' is redundant, for | et means 'and' in Latin. This abbreviation should be used for things, not for people. Et al. (an abbreviation of | et alii, 'and other people, and others') is properly used for others (people) too numerous to mention, as in a list of multiple authors: | Bancroft, Fordwick, et al. In general, both terms (and their abbreviations) are common enough that it is not necessary to italicize or underline them.

Bob the Angry Flower:

link

Merriam-Webster's WOTY

Merriam-Webster's Word of '07: 'W00t'

Expect cheers among hardcore online game enthusiasts when they learn Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year. Or, more accurately, expect them to "w00t."

"W00t," a hybrid of letters and numbers used by gamers as an exclamation of happiness or triumph, topped all other terms in the Springfield-based dictionary publisher's online poll for the word that best sums up 2007.

Merriam-Webster's president, John Morse, said "w00t" was an ideal choice because it blends whimsy and new technology.

"It shows a really interesting thing that's going on in language. It's a term that's arrived only because we're now communicating electronically with each other," Morse said.

Gamers commonly substitute numbers and symbols for the letters they resemble, Morse says, creating what they call "l33t speak" that's "leet" when spoken, short for "elite" to the rest of the world.

For technophobes, the word also is familiar from the 1990 movie "Pretty Woman," in which Julia Roberts startles her date's upper-crust friends with a hearty "Woot, woot, woot!" at a polo match.

Purists of "l33t speak" often substitute a "7" for the final "t," expressing a "w007" of victory an "in your face" of sorts when they defeat an online gaming opponent.

"W00t" was among 20 nominees in a list of the most-searched words in Merriam-Webster's online dictionary and most frequently submitted terms from users of its "open dictionary."

The choice did not make Allan Metcalf, executive secretary of the American Dialect Society, say "w00t."

"It's amusing, but it's limited to a small community and unlikely to spread and unlikely to last," said Metcalf, an English professor at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill.

The 2006 pick, "truthiness," also has its roots in pop culture. It was popularized by Comedy Central satirical political commentator Stephen Colbert.

Some also-rans in the 2007 list: the use of "facebook" as a verb to signify using the Web site by that name; nuanced terms such as "quixotic," "hypocrite" and "conundrum"; and "blamestorm," a meeting in which mistakes are aired, fingers are pointed and much discomfort is had by all.

Forgetful Locofoco

i lost my wallet this week and had to get a new license. while i was at the dmv i decided to register in the new county to which i recently moved. i thought about changing my party affiliation, but decided to keep it as democratic; the party i registered as when i was eighteen. sigh.

the reason i bring this up is two part, one: m-w WOTD was locofoco;

the second part is i need help. i lost my wallet this week. but i lost my phone last week. and i'm pretty sure i'll lose my keys next week. i need something to help remind me to check for the following items:

cellphone
keys
ipod
watch
chapstick
gum
and wallet (if i ever get another one)

Click the Cow!

By far the raddest tool I've ever added under WORDHELP to your right; the Homespun Analogy Generator.

My first generated analogy:
She was as knocked up as an empty raccoon in a drag race.