The document summarizes words selected as "Words of the Year" by the American Dialect Society from 2009 to 2014. Each year, the society chooses words that best reflect the spirit, mood, and preoccupations of that year. Some of the words selected include "selfie," "hashtag," "twerk," and "BlackLivesMatter." The society also categorizes words as "Most Useful," "Most Creative," and others based on nomination and member voting.

1. 1
HUMOR IN AMERICAN
POP LANGUAGE
by Don L. F. Nilsen and
Alleen Pace Nilsen

2. The variety shown in these books
reflects the wide range of interest in
words and how we use them.
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3. 3
Merriam-Webster Words of the Year
Recession: What we deny that we’re in
Airball: Someone who disrupts things but doesn’t
do anything positive
Jingle-Mail: House keys in envelopes to be mailed
to banks as the owners walk away from their
mortgages
Nanomanagers: Micromanagers, but more so
Staycation: A vacation at home
THE WINNER WAS BAILOUT: A word first
associated with sinking ships

4. Each year, the American Dialect Society
http://americandialect.org/ selects the words that have
had the most impact during the previous year.
Categories include:
• Most Useful
• Most Creative
• Most Unnecessary
• Most Euphemistic
• Most Outrageous
• Most Likely to
Succeed
• Least Likely to
Succeed
• The most fought-
over is the “Word of
the Year.”
• In some years,
members create special
categories as when in
2006 they gave a “Best
Tom-Cruise-Related
Word” and in 2007 a
“Best Pluto-Related
Word.”
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5. Famous Comebacks!
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6. 6
As we discuss the runners up and the
winners in each of these categories ask
yourself these questions:
•Have I heard the word before?
•What does the word mean?
•Is the word negative or positive in
connotation?
•What does the word show about our
changing culture?

7. American Dialect Society’s
2014 Words of the Year
Selected in January of 2015
Robocar: A self-driving car
Manspreading: a man’s sitting with legs wide on public transit
Sugar-dating: Relationship between an older and wealthier person (sugar
daddy/mommy) and a younger partner (sugar baby)
Salty: exceptionally bitter, angry, or upset
Budtender: Person who serves marijuana to consumers in legal
dispensaries
Casual: New or inexperienced person, especially a gamer
MOST NOTABLE HASHTAG: #icantbreathe, #notallmen, #whyistayed
WORD OF THE YEAR:
#blacklivesmatter: protest over blacks killed at the hands of police
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8. American Dialect Society’s
2013 Words of the Year
Selected in January of 2014
Slash: and/or (e.g. come and visit slash stay”)
Twerk: dance involving vigorous booty-shaking & thrusting, usually with
the feet planted
Selfie: what Ellen Degeneres took at the Academy Awards; it had so
many tweets and retweets that it crashed Twitter
ACC: “Aggressive Carbon-Copy” cc-ing to the boss or legal council ,
meant to undermine the e-mail recipient
Glasshole: a person made oblivious by wearing Google Glass
Least untruthful: involving the smallest necessary lie (used by CIA
Director James Clapper)
WORD OF THE YEAR:
Because: introducing a noun or adjective (e.g. “because reasons,”
“because awesome”)
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9. American Dialect Society’s
2012 Words of the Year
Selected in January of 2013
Dunlop Effect: “Belly done lop over Belt”
Etch a Sketch: relating to Romney
Legitimate Rape: Doesn’t result in Pregnancy
Marriage Equality: Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage
MOOC: Massive Open Online Course
Phablet: phone + tablet
YOLO: You Only Live Once
WORD OF THE YEAR:
#HASHTAG: Used on Twitter to mark a (trending) topic
NOTE: This looks like hashbrown potatoes
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10. Famous Comebacks!
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11. 11
Most Useful
• PODCAST: (i-Pod + broadcast)
• GREEN: a prefix which designates environmental
concern, as in “greenwashing”
• -ER words:
– BIRTHER: Someone who questions Obama’s
American birth
– DEATHER: Someone who believes America has death
panels
– TENTHER: Someone who believes that what the
government does is in violation of the 10th
Amendment
– TRUTHER: Someone who doubts the official account
of the 9/11 accounts

12. Most Creative
Bragabond: Someone who
travels and brags a lot
• Whale tail: Thong or G-
string underwear above
the waistband of pants,
shorts, or a skirt
• Googlegänger: A person
you find on Google with
your same name.
• Dracula sneeze: Covering
your mouth with the crook
of your elbow when
sneezing
Muffin top: Bulge of fat
hanging over low-rider jeans
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13. Muffin Top and Camel Toe
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14. Famous Comebacks!
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15. 15
Most Unnecessary
• Pope-squatting: Registering a domain name
that you hope will be the same as the name
that a new pope will choose for himself.
• Brenifer: Something to do with Brad Pitt and
Jennifer Anniston
• Happy Kwanhanamas! A greeting alluding to
Kwanza + Hanukka + Christmas
• Octomom: Nadya Suleman, the woman who
gave birth to octuplets

16. Octomom: Nadya Suleman
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17. 17
Most Outrageous
• Whizzinator: Realistic prosthetic penis for passing
drug tests
• Crotchfruit: A child or children as referred to by
proponents of “child-free” public spaces
• Death Panel: The people who critics of government-
provided health care say would decide if patients
would live or die
• Sexting: Texting sexual messages or pictures
• Underpants Bomber: The Nigerian passenger who
put a liquid bomb in his underwear

18. Our vote for 2013 Most
Outrageous Words:
• Captain Sum Ting
Wong
• Wi Tu Lo
• Ho Lee F*k
• Bang Ding Ow
Only in the news for 2
days
Who created the names?
Was this mean spirited?
Was the timing too soon?
The airline was Korean.
Were the names Korean
or Chinese?
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19. Famous Comebacks!
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20. 20
Most Euphemistic
• Extraordinary Rendition: Sending prisoners
overseas for torture
• Internal Nutrition: Force-feeding prisoners
against their will.
• To Hike the Appalachian trail: To go missing as
did South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford when
he went to meet a lover in Argentina.
• Sea Kittens: A word coined by PETA to refer,
with fondness, to fish.

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22. 22
Most Likely to Succeed
• Cyber Monday: The Monday after Thanksgiving
when people begin internet Christmas shopping
• Sudoku: A number puzzle with each row or column
containing only one instance of each number 1-9
• To have a wide stance: To be hypocritical or to
express conflicting points of view, again based on
Larry Craig’s arrest in a public restroom
• Green shoots: Signs of America’s economic
recovery

23. Sudoku: Before and After
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24. Famous Comebacks!
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25. 25
Least Likely to Succeed
• Cruiselex: Any word related to Tom Cruise
• Pope-squatting: (See earlier definition)
• Earmarxist: A congressman or senator who is
famous for adding earmarks
• Polywood: Hollywood stars who are political
• Slow Media: Newspapers and other paper-based
periodicals, c.f. Snail mail

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Special Category Words
• When Governor Brewer accidentally used President
Obama’s name in what she meant as an
endorsement for Mitt Romney, she told reporters
that it was a mistake, just “Stick a fork in it!”
• In Real Estate talk, Ninja means “No Income, No Job
or Assets,” i.e. a poorly documented loan made to a
high-risk borrower.
• New words re. Blogging include blogosphere,
blogerati, milblog, blogola, etc.

27. 27
Name of the Year
• In 2009 Betraeus was chosen as it was used by
http://www.moveon.org to refer to General
Petraeus, who at the time was our commander in
Iraq.
• This is ironic because Rush Limbaugh first used
the name Betraeus to describe liberals who
would not support the War in Iraq.
• The joke lost its humor after Betraeus lost his
job for having an affair.

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Former Words of the Year
Still in the Language
• “Heck of a job” --President Bush’s
compliment to Undersecretary Michael
Brown, who was charged with handling the
complications of Hurricane Katrina
• “Truthiness” --first used on Stephen
Colbert’s The Colbert Report
• “Subprime” used to describe a risky or
poorly documented loan or mortgage.

29. Examples from Leslie Savan’s 2006 SLAM DUNKS
AND NO BRAINERS:Language in Your Life, the
Media, Business, Politics, and Like, Whatever
For Frustrations
• I hate when that
happens.
• I’m having a bad
hair day.
• What was I
thinking?
For Repetitions
• Blah blah blah.
• Same old, same old.
• Yadda yadda yadda.
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30. Old Slang Still in Use
• Been there. Done
that.
• He’s history.
• The bottom line.
• Chill out!
• Go for it.
• That’s hot.
• To dis someone.
• To push
someone’s
buttons.
• Under the radar
• 24/7
• Do the math.
• Gimme a break!
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31. Famous Comebacks!
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32. 32
SOME RECENT
BUZZWORDS:
• Blahger: A blogger whose message consists
of “blah-blah-blah.”
• Cellular Macarena: When a cell phone rings
and everyone starts reaching into his coat,
pants, purse to answer it
• Dixie-Chicked: To be reviled or boycotted for
voicing an unpopular political sentiment

33. Cellular Macarena & Being Dixie Chicked
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34. More Buzzwords
• Job Spill: When work cuts into your
personal time
• Payroll Orphan: Someone who has lost
their job
• Up-Titling: Giving people an impressive
title instead of a pay raise
• YOYO: “You’re On Your Own” from text
messaging
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35. 35
Words used to identify groups with
special clothing, cars, hair styles,
etc.
• bling wearers
• icies (fancy jewelry)
• glitterati
• red states, blue states, purple
states
• yuppiness

36. Famous Comebacks!
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37. Notice the importance of intonation
in these conversation openers.
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38. Is This How you Express
Criticism or Doubt?
• Excuse me!
• Hello!
• Duh!
• Eat my shorts!
• That’s so five minutes
ago.
• You just don’t get it.
• That sucks
• Yea, Right.
• WTF
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39. MORE OPTIONS
• I don’t think so.
• Get over it.
• Sign L on forehead
for Loser
• In your worst
nightmare.
• Don’t go there!
• As if …
• Like…
• Puh…leez
• That blows!
• …Just sayin’
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40. How about these for closers?
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41. How about these if you want
to be more positive?
• Yessss!
• Word!
• Ka-ching!
• Hua! Hua! Hua! A
Marine acronym for
“Heard, Understood,
Acknowledged”
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42. We’ll conclude with a real
conversation stopper:
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