Say what? Language in 2005. via BlogRodent (via Mowser)

Say what? Language in 2005.

December 30th, 2005 @ 5:55 pm by Rich | Share This | Comments: none
Filed under: Random Miscellany

The Global Language Monitor recently published some interesting lists of word and phase usage for 2005. Here are my hand-picked faves:

Best top ten phrase is #9: “Jumping the Couch. Apparently losing complete emotional control; made popular by the escapades of Tom Cruise on the Oprah television show.” (Others: Out of the Mainstream, Bird Flu/Avian Flu, Politically Correct, North/South Divide, Purple Thumb, Climate Change, String Theory, The Golden Quatrilateral, Deferred success.) (See the entries for “Jump the Couch” at the Urban Dictionary and at WordSpy.)

Best top ten word is #4: “Chinglish: The new second language of China from the Chinglish formation: CHINese + EngLISH.”

Best Bushism—sounds like blogging:

“See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.” Explaining his Communications strategy. (Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005).

Best politically correct term: “Deferred Success.” Uh, yeah. That’s my problem. I am so not a failure.

Click on over to the Global Language Monitor for more verbal goodness.