"Unfriend" - Word of the Year 2009
Oxford dictionary keep tracks of how the use of English language is evolving from year to year. Specialists review the new-born words and choose the yearly winner by "reflecting the ethos of the year and its lasting potential as a word of cultural significance and use".
"Unfriend" has become the annual Word of the Year 2009 by The New Oxford American Dictionary. To "unfriend" someone means to remove someone from a friend list in the social networking website such as Facebook/Twitter. According to Christine Lindberg (Senior Lexicographer for Oxford`s US dictionary program), "unfriend" has been the first choice due to its "currency and potential longevity".
It has been revealed that "unfriend" (verb) beat a total of 24 contenders competing for the top spot in 2009. Other examples include, "birther" (defined by Oxford Dictionary as "a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama`s U.S. Birth certificate"), "paywall" (allowing access to some parts of website only to paying users) and "netbook" (a small, portable laptop with limited memory). The candidates for nomination are chosen according to their popularity in day-to-day usage and cultural importance over the year. Ironically, Oxford`s places "unfriend" in the same rank as the previous winners such as "hypermiling"(winner of 2008) and "locovore" (winner of 2007). "Hypermiling" is defined as "the attempt to maximise gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one`s car and one`s driving techniques" and "locovore" as "people who eat locally grown food".
Other unusual choices for inclusion into the dictionaries have been: "Tweetup" (included in Collins English Dictionary) meaning meetings set up via posts on Twitter; "Twitter" and of course "Facebook" that was selected as the Word of the Year 2007 by Collins English dictionary. Such tradition of selecting new word of the year began in 2004 when the word "blog" was leading the list compiled by Merriam-Webster.
