What’s the word? It’s “unfriend”
The glossary of the Internet has once again moved a popular term into the big leagues, as "unfriend" was named Word of the Year by the Oxford American Dictionary. Those who participate in social networks like Facebook and MySpace are familiar with the term, as it means to remove someone from their list of friends.
The Oxford American Dictionary definition reads: “To remove someone as a friend on a social networking site such as Facebook."
Because it assumes a verb sense of "friend," Oxford says it is a verb.
Other cyberspace expressions in the running for the top mention included:
— hashtag • a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets
— intexticated • distracted because texting on a cell phone while driving a vehicle
— netbook • a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory
— paywall • a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers
— sexting • the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cell phone
— freemium • a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content
Read more about the Word of the Year selection at the Oxford University Press blog:
http://blog.oup.com/2009/11/unfriend/
The editors at Merriam-Webster Dictionary chose the word "admonish" as their choice for Word of the Year 2009.
admonish (verb)
to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner
You can see their top 10 finalists here:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/09words.htm
Wired magazine hasn't announced its Word of the Year yet, but last year's winner was "tweet," which is a 140-characters-or-fewer posted to the microblog site Twitter. A runner-up was "frolleague," describing someone you work with but who isn't quite a friend. Online you might add a frolleague to your LinkedIn network, but not your Facebook circle.
Check the Wikipedia entry for a historical look at the Word of the Year:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_the_year
