Along with eating too much, buying gifts, partying wildly and making resolutions we'll forget about in a month, there is another year-end tradition that's not as popular in practice but perhaps should be. At the end of each year, various linguists, dictionary editors and grammarians select their word of the year.
The word selectors are people who have some expertise in both words and current events. The New Oxford American Dictionary aimed for words that were both linguistically interesting and applicable to the times. Out of words like "frugalista" (too trendy), "CarrotMob" (what? really?) and "topless meeting" (entirely too suggestive for my office full of men), they chose the word "hypermiling", the practice of maximising the fuel-efficiency of one's car.
Interestingly, for a word of the year, I have absolutely never encountered it until now. Neither this year nor last; not on the radio or in print; not in a hat, not with a bat and so on. And really, I don't even know anyone who sincerely practices hypermiling. Sure, people try to cut back on their driving, or they share rides, but everyone on the interstate is still piling up in long lines of angry drivers swerving menacingly behind the one person who insists on sticking to the speed limit. Maybe they're hypermiling on the west coast, but in Baltimore, there's no such thing.
Mirriam-Webster supports "bail-out" as the word of the year. While less uplifting and creative than frugalista or hypermiling, it fills a few important requirements. First, it was a word well before this particular bail-out season. Second, it will remain a commonly used word well after this recession is over. Third, I've certainly heard the word bail-out used more often than the near Seuss-isms selected by the Oxford American.
But bail-out is such a grim choice for the word of the year. Yes, it definitely describes the way we've spent the last several months of 2008, but I suggest we choose a more positive word. They say thoughts become things, and while I know more than a handful of people will mock me for this hippy nonsense, I suggest we pick a word of the year that reflects the best elements of 2008 – those we wish to carry into the future until we can point to this period in history as the start of something great for America.
With that in mind, here are my suggestions for 2008:
Social media: Ok, it's a compound word, or really, just a phrase, but social media has climbed to new heights in 2008, becoming a more functional, realistic way to catch up with old friends and meet potential new clients and partners. Twitter has grasped the fact that, for some users at least, less really is more. Being able to catch up one short sentence at a time is more to-the-point as well as a challenge of brevity for prolific tweeters.
Obama: Twelve months ago, you might have had a hard time finding people who knew of Barack Obama. Today, Obama has changed the world, at least symbolically. No matter what happens in his presidency, 2008 will be remembered as the year the American dream became a reality. As Chris Rock said in his latest comedy special, you tell white kids they can grow up to be anything, and they say, "I know," because they hear it all the time. They also see white people filling all the roles they aspire to have one day. Tell a black kid the same thing, and until now, in the back of his mind, the kid knew you were lying. Obama changed that. Years from now, I hope we can view his presidency as the one that turned around our economy, ended two wars and created thousands of green jobs, but at the very least, we will always view him as the president who changed the face of race relations in America.
Green: This year, Wall-E, the fifth-highest grossing film of the year, was all about environmentalism and technology. While being incredibly cute, Wall-E also managed to give a strong warning about taking care of the Earth. That is quite a feat, and it could only have been accomplished through our increasingly green culture. Everything is about going green. We're searching for green energy sources, trying to create green jobs and promoting green products. Every grocery store and a healthy number of department stores, electronics stores and bookstores also sell reusable shopping bags made of cotton or recycled materials. Even fashion magazines feature special sections on green fashion. Sure, green is a regular old word that's been around for centuries, but in 2008, this old word has learned a few exciting new tricks.
