Stephanie Gallman, “Linguists Name ‘Occupy’ as 2011’s Word of the Year” (CNN, Jan. 8, 2012)
The linguists have spoken and they have decided — “Occupy” is 2011’s word of the year.
Members of the American Dialect Society came out in record numbers to vote Friday night at the organization’s annual conference, held this year in Portland, Oregon.
“Occupy” won a runoff vote by a whopping majority, earning more votes than “FOMO” (an acronym for “Fear of Missing Out,” describing anxiety over being inundated by the information on social media) and “the 99%,” (those held to be at a financial or political disadvantage to the top moneymakers, the one-percenters).
Occupy joins previous year’s winners, “app,” “tweet,” and “bailout.”
“It’s a very old word, but over the course of just a few months it took on another life and moved in new and unexpected directions, thanks to a national and global movement,” Ben Zimmer, chair of the New Words Committee for the American Dialect Society, said in a statement.
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