Ben Zimmer in the News

H. Samy Alim, “What if We Occupied Language?” (New York Times Opinionator, Dec. 21, 2011)

Occupy.

It is now nearly impossible to hear the word and not think of the Occupy movement.

Even as distinguished an expert as the lexicographer and columnist Ben Zimmer admitted as much this week: “occupy,” he said, is the odds-on favorite to be chosen as the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year.

Read the rest here.

Interviewed by Voice of America (Special English Division) for a live-stream about words of the year and learning English.

Ben Zimmer talks with VOA’s Avi Arditti and Alison Klein about some notable terms of 2011, and answers questions from callers about how to improve their English and get into an American university. (Dec. 21, 2011)

Nancy Messieh, “A Look at How Twitter Continues to Shape the English Language” (The Next Web, Dec. 16, 2011)

Boston Globe’s language columnist, and chair of the ADS’ new words committee, Ben Zimmer, told NPR that the word ‘Occupy’ was most likely this year’s choice. Occupy is ”an old word that has been invested with new meanings” – of course due to the Occupy movement.

Other words that Zimmer mentioned in his NPR interview included Arab Spring, for obvious reasons, bunga bunga, an old phrase once again made popular by former Italian prime minister Berlusconi and his antics, and tiger blood, a hashtag that snagged the number two spot on Twitter’s top 10 hashtags of the year.

A combination of current events and online banter are clearly at the root of this list, and it’s interesting to note Twitter’s influence on the choices.

In fact, one of Zimmer’s own favourites is the phrase, ‘humble brag,’ similar to the idea of First World Problems, but made famous thanks to the many celeb tweets containing self-promotion in a thinly-veiled disguise of humility. There’s even an entire Twitter account dedicated to finding these tweets.

Read the rest here.

Steve Myers, “Hashtags Helped Cement ‘Occupy’ and ‘Winning’ as Memorable Words of 2011” (Poynter, Dec. 16, 2011)

NPR
Linguist Ben Zimmer tells NPR’s Renee Montagne that Twitter has helped elevate some of the contenders for word of the year, such as “winning” and “occupy,” which is likely to be the choice of the American Dialect Society. ”These single words can often get a special power on Twitter by being used as hashtags … These hashtags actually end up having the power of slogans or mantras, and really help to spread words and phrases.” One of Zimmer’s favorites, “humblebrag,” has become a common Twitter hashtag after comedian Harris Wittels coined the term. || Earlier: ‘App’ was 2010′s word of the year (Associated Press)

Mark Memmott, “Occupy? Humble Brag? What’s Your ‘Word Of The Year?’” (“The Two-Way” NPR blog, Dec. 16, 2011)

Today on Morning Edition, Boston Globe language columnist Ben Zimmer — who chairs the society’s new words committee — told host Renee Montagne that the early favorite is probably “occupy.”

It is “an old word that has been invested with new meanings” thanks to the Occupy Wall Street movement and all the other occupy protests it has sparked, Zimmer said. “It has become a call to action itself,” he added.

But, of course, there are many other possibilities: “Arab Spring,” “bunga bunga” and “tiger blood” come to mind.

Zimmer has a personal favorite: “humble brag.” It describes the fake humility of some celebrities when they Tweet or talk about how hard their lives can be.

Read the rest here.

Interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition” about nominees for the Word of the Year selection. (Dec. 16, 2011)

Lovers of the English language are coming together to select the coolest word or phrase. Last year, app was voted the word of the year by the American Dialect Society. Now that group of etymologists, writers, historians and other language experts are considering new words for 2011. Linguist Ben Zimmer talks to Renee Montagne to offer his picks for 2011.

(Show page, audio, related Word Routes column, Boston Globe column)

Tom Segev, “Wilting Blossoms” (Editorial in Haaretz, Dec. 16, 2011)

A linguist named Ben Zimmer, who has a website called Visual Thesaurus, contends that the first event in the 20th century that was described in terms of spring was the introduction of liberal reforms in Russia in 1904. Since that time, the image has frequently been attached to numerous events, mainly in Eastern Europe: East Berlin, 1953; Warsaw and Budapest, 1956; Prague, 1968.

Read the rest here.

Interview on WCBS Newsradio about the notable words of 2011. (Dec. 15, 2011)

(Show page, related Word Routes column, Boston Globe column)

Interview on “The Emily Rooney Show” (WGBH Boston) about the words of 2011 that garnered the most buzz. (Dec. 14, 2011)

Meta, Occupy, and planking. These are just a few of the words that entered our collective vocabulary in 2011. We’ll examine the buzziest words of the year – and the stories they tell.
Guest: Ben Zimmer, linguist, lexicographer, and Boston Globe columnist

(Show page, audio, related Word Routes column, Boston Globe column)