Word of 2008: A challenge

[eplovejoy]

Each year the people who publish Merriam Webster's dictionary designate a word as the one that best exemplifies something about the year in which it gained widespread use. Two years ago it was Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" and last year it was "w00t," an exclamation of delight used by online gamers.

I think that if we put our heads together, we can come up with the neologism that will define this new year. Once we agree on it, we have to be subtle about popularizing it. We can use it in our e-mails and conversations (even our Epinions reviews, for those who still post any) and hope that it catches on. But we can't do anything overt. If it seems like we are campaigning, it will taint the results and probably doom the campaign.

So far, when I say "we" I mean you.

I've come up short on my first suggestion: compotato. There probably already is a word for the computer equivalent of a couch potato that I don't know. Even if there isn't, compotato won't work because it is already in use in other contexts, including as a user name on eBay.

So, I'll try to come up with something else. Want to try as well? We can do it. (Or at least you can.)

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

OH COOL! I love this idea. It's sneaky and subversive and has a viral potential... what's not to like?

[taurusmoon]

I like!

And I like the "compotato" concept as a target. Too bad it's been done.

How about mouseuse? mouseuer? (Hmmm It works much better spoken than written. Feh.)

Mouseage?

[hadassahchana[$]]

I love this! Wouldn't it be hilarious if we could actually come up with a word and get it used by people who don't hang out here?

[eplovejoy]

Thanks, you three. We could be the start of something because there seems to be some enthusiasm to give this a try. I doubt we need a formal selection process. We'll know it when we see it.

And I think we have time. The right word could catch on just a few weeks. It might be that the thing that our new word refers to doesn't even exist yet, but will before the end of the year.

But if we can come up with something early, we could try it out and still have time to try again if that first one doesn't work. And as long as there is Merriam Webster's, there's always next year. (Can you tell I live in the home of the Buffalo Bills?)

I hope someone among you is doing better than I have so far. I'm not terribly keen on anything I've come up with . . . yet. I'll keep trying. In the meantime, perhaps these can spark some creativity among the rest of you.

Perhaps my best, which doesn't come up in Web searches so it might be original, is nullibuy to refer to the credits purchased to offset carbon release. It could be a noun or a verb: Our trip will cost more if we nullibuy. It was worth the extra we spent on the nullibuy.

Related could be worrynheit, a noun for concern about global warming, or scarenheit. The biggest drawback I can see is that much of the world uses celsius. Also, worrynheit probably works best when pronounced as worrinheit, which is difficult to convey in print.

Connisolation could refer to the sense of being cut off from one's surroudings because one is connected instead to the Web, phone or music.

We could try to popularize wishfally to describe a nation, corporation or person with whom you hope to work, but that might mean promoting both the concept and the word. Also, wishfally doesn't sound like the noun it is, or at least could be. On the other hand, Google probably didn't sound like a verb at first.

Perhaps more useful would be tempally to describe the ally you have only for the moment that events demand working together despite your desires not to: Saudi Arabia is our tempally as long as they have oil.

Importinot could be something that doesn't matter but interests a lot of people anyway, like the death of Anna Nicole Smith or anything relating to Paris Hilton.

If Bono, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and the rest keep at it this year, perhaps we could do something along the lines of fameanthropists to describe people who leverage their celebrity for good works. I say "something along the lines of" because although such a word might be useful, that one with "mean" in the middle looks awkward.

There have to be others. Anyone?

[eplovejoy]

Globaload to describe the increasing amount of information one needs to make sense of the world has at least one potential drawback: there is a Web site globaload.com to sell investments. On the other hand, how many people have heard of that site?

[drmomentum[$]]

I've been leaning heavy on "motortrucker" for weeks now. I think I may have even got a local act to write a song. As in "it's snowing like a motortrucker."

But it's unlikely to show up in a dictionary. it's not really a proper word.

Funny thing, I think i am not the first person to use "motortrucker." It's amazing, i can't even coin a unique word, according to Google.

[eplovejoy]

drmomentum said

i can't even coin a unique word

Sure you can. You just have to try again.

[eplovejoy]

If we can't convince the dictionary people, maybe we'll have better luck with the American Dialect Society. Their members chose "subprime" as their 2007 word of the year. In 2006, they singled out "plutoed," which means to be demoted.

`Subprime' is linguists' word of year - Yahoo! News

[magenta321]

When you want to just play around with your Wii all weekend, instead of running errands, cleaning, or doing anything else that needs to be done, you are Wiilaxing.

[pippadaisy[$]]

Already been used... it's on the gamer boards a bit.

[magenta321]

Oh

[taurusmoon]

Earrogance - blathering away on your cell phone in public spaces oblivious of the fact that other people really don't care to hear your conversation

[magenta321]

I love it!

[magenta321]

Ok, how about a cloned cow. Since we'll all be eating them soon. We'll be eating Moo-Two.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

taurusmoon said

Earrogance - blathering away on your cell phone in public spaces oblivious of the fact that other people really don't care to hear your conversation

Do you realize how many times a DAY I will be able to use this word?!

[eplovejoy]

Earrogance: We have a strong contender. It's unfortunate but undeniable that we need such a word.

Thanks, Sara.

[lynnzop[$]]

I love it. Going to start using it immediately.

"Can you believe the earrogance of that guy?"
"Honey, quit being so earrogant."
"I propose a ban on earrogant behaviour in public places."

It just rolls off the tongue.

[magenta321]

I used it today, but I was the only one who heard me say it. I was driving along a main road at a decent speed. There were no cars ahead nor behind me. Someone pulled out in front of me. Is anyone surprised that he was on his cell phone? He then proceeded to travel well-under the speed limit AND weave as he tried to hold his phone with one hand and smoke with the other.

"You earrogant ___!" Too bad no one heard me screaming it at him.

[mjfrombuffalo[$]]

But you used it in a sentence, and in the right context. Vocabulary teachers everywhere would be proud

[eris esoteric]

Found a good one on Snopes: Slacktivism, the search for the ultimate feel-good that derives from having come to society's rescue without actually getting one's hands dirty, volunteering any of one's time, or opening one's wallet.

[lynnzop[$]]

OMG, I was in a retail store yesterday, and this earrogant bastard was walking around setting up a conference call while he was shopping.

And last week, the earrogance of the woman in line ahead of me at Shopko! She yakked and yakked on her phone about meaningless things while the checker rang up her items, politely asked her for her drivers lisc, handed her a receipt and politely thanked her for her patronage. Never even acknowledged the poor girl. Her supervisor came up as the woman was leaving, and rolled her eyes. I couldn't help myself, and said "I'd like to slap earrogant people like that!" and they both nodded and said "Us too!"

Use it.

[taurusmoon]