Word of the Year (WOTY)

2009

Merriam-Webster (dictionary) (by frequency of online lookup)

merriam-webster.com/info/09words.htm

admonish (response to U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson's "You lie!" during President Obama's speech of September 9, 2009)

Also rans:

• emaciated
• empathy
• furlough
• inaugurate
• nugatory (inconsequential)
• pandemic
• philanderer
• repose
• rogue

Webster's New World College Dictionary

newworldword.com/2009/11/02/word-of-the-year-2009/

distracted driving

Also rans:

• cloud computing (doing computer applications online instead of on one's computer)
• wallet biopsy (assessing patient's ability to pay in recommending medical services)

New Oxford American Dictionary

blog.oup.com/2009/11/unfriend/

unfriend (as on Facebook, Myspace, or other social networking sites)

Word clusters (Twitter related):

• Tweeps
• Tweetup
• Twitt
• Twitterati
• Twitterature
• Twitterverse / Twittersphere
• Retweet
• Twibe
• Sweeple [sic, presumably Tweeple]
• Tweepish
• Tweetaholic
• Twittermob
• Twitterhea

Word clusters (Obamaisms):

• Obamanomics
• Obamarama
• Obamasty
• Obamacons
• Obamanos
• Obamanation
• Obamafication
• Obamamessiah
• Obamamama
• Obamaeur
• Obamanator
• Obamaland
• Obamalicious
• Obamacles
• Obamania
• Obamacracy
• Obamanon
• Obamalypse

Also rans (Technology):

• hashtag (# for Twitter.com topic marking)
• intexticated (text[ing while driving] +intoxicated)
• netbook (mini-laptop computer for basic tasks)
• paywall (blockage to pay area of website)
• sexting (sex[ual content] + texting)

Also rans (Economy):

• freemium (free + premium [content/features])
• funemployed (fun + unemployed)
• zombie bank (dead but on government life support)

Also rans (Politics and Current Affairs):

• Ardi (Ardipithecus ramidus, oldest known hominid, discovered in 1992, publicly announced after research in 2009)
• birther (someone who doubts Obama was born in America, making him ineligible to be President)
• choice mom (single mother by choice)
• death panel (theoretical group within government healthcare that decides who deserves scarce services)
• teabagger (negative term for a "Tea Party" protestor against liberal government policies)

Also rans (Environment):

• brown state (re: poor environmental regulation)
• green state (re: good environmental regulation)
• ecotown (town friendly to the environment)

Also rans (Novelty Words):

• deleb (de[ad] + [c]eleb[rity])
• tramp stamp (lower-back tattoo)

American Dialect Society

Current nominations: americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/early_nominations_received_for_the_2009_word_of_the_year_vote/

Winners coming after their January 8, 2010 meeting.