I couldn’t let the year pass without sharing a word nerdy recap of 2013. Which words were most popular? Which ones could we forget?
My favorite new word is swivet, but more on that later.
Let’s start with popular words
On its site, Merriam Webster has a feature called The Year in Words. It highlights words that received a spike in “lookups” during 2013. This is a word lover’s way to review the big news stories of the past year. Some interesting examples:
- Pyrrhic achieved popularity both in January and October relating to expensive and controversial political battles over the debt ceiling, the budget, and Obamacare. Pyrrhic means achieved at excessive cost, for example, a pyrrhic victory.
- Contrite, or showing regret for bad behavior, spiked in January after Lance Armstrong’s confession. It also got a lot of attention after President Obama’s press conference in which he apologized for the bungled roll out of the new health care law.
- Emeritus spiked when Pope Benedict stepped down from leading the Catholic Church. Emeritus means one retired from professional life but allowed to retain an honorary title.
knaidel - Lots of people looked up knaidel after a 13-year-old spelled it correctly to win the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee. It’s a German-Yiddish word for a dumpling. I’m pretty sure my 13-year-old can NOT spell that one. I’ll ask…
- Pariah got popular after George Zimmerman received the not guilty verdict. His lawyer called him a pariah and said he’d probably leave Florida. A pariah is someone despised or rejected.
Merriam-Webster’s most looked up word for 2013 was… Science! Here are the rest of the top ten most looked up words for 2013:
- cognitive
- rapport
- communication
- niche
- ethic
- paradox
- visceral
- integrity
- metaphor
I know most of these, don’t you? The editors at M-W happily point out that people still need the dictionary for spelling and pronunciation information.
On to unpopular words
The Fox news station in Denver covered a story a humorous story from Michigan. Every year, the Lake Superior State University asks the public to submit words/phrases that should be banished for misuse and overuse. Thousands of submissions came in, but the top ones were:
- selfie
a “selfie” of me and my daughter - Twerk
- Mister Mom
- Fan base
- ____ on steroids
- Morally bankrupt
- Obamacare
And to all of those, I say, AMEN!
Words I’m tired of
I’ve got a full-fledged adolescent now, as well as a “tween”. So, I’m tired of hearing the phrase “epic fail” – it’s so negative. Also, I’d be happy if I never heard another Minecraft related word, especially creeper, nether, or zombie. (But no luck there; we just got Minecraft on the laptop. We don’t have Xbox One, but hey, we’re still pretty cool.)
Favorite words I learned
To end on a positive note, I’ve added tons of fascinating words to my vocabulary thanks to Kathy’s Wondrous Words Wednesday meme. My favorites:
- Swivet– a state of extreme agitation
- Knackered– very tired or exhausted
- Pertinacious– stubborn, obstinate
Hmm. These words reflect my current phase in life: a mom of four kids. I can even put them all into one sentence:
My pertinacious daughter sent me into such a swivet this afternoon that I fell into bed knackered before 8 pm.
Not bad, huh? 🙂
What were your favorite words of 2013? Do any of the popular words surprise you? Which words would you like to see banished?
Thanks!
Julia
p.s. Cassie left a response on my blog about your question about the “m.” How come my blog doesn’t give the option of “notify me of follow-up comments by email”? So many wordpress questions. At the moment I can’t figure out why I can’t change the Default Category from “Super Smoothie.” The blog problems put me in a swivet and I leave the site completely knackered. Fortunately, I’m rather pertinacious about blogging 🙂
Amy, You have shown a thorough mastery of my favorite words from 2013. Well done! (They are perfect for writin’ mamas like us, aren’t they?)
As far as the follow up comments, I bet you could peruse your theme options and see if you could get that option to show up in each post. Also, I use a WP plug-in called Comment Reply Notification that automatically sends my replies via email to people who comment. I wanted it because I love how you have always replied to my comments with a quick email note. 🙂 Thanks for the head’s up on Cassie’s response.
Selfie, twerking – can’t stand the words!!!! I love the new words you pointed out and will try to find a reason to use swivet (easily), knackered (right now :), and pertinacious (who me?)
Oh mercy, Julia — if only “twerking” could be removed in EVERY FORM. Ugh that’s just nasty. A word that I’m loving recently is “cockalorum.” I saw it in a Buzzfeed post, then heard Mr Carson use it in the last episode of Downton Abbey! (Yes, I confess I secretly wanted to do a little happy dance for myself 🙂 )
Can’t wait for the new vocab words in 2014! Hope to see you soon (as soon as I can drive to Cburg with my foot down)
Wait, wait! Aren’t you going to tell me what “cockalorum” means??!!
We are confined to the old odyssey on a long family road trip so I passed around your blogpost to get the collective car opinion on your perinent post. Amidst many sighs from my kids because we are in the minecraft worldx2months I have to agree with those loathsome words. One of the other over used words of 2013 is ubher, I don’t even know if it’s a word. I loved hearing my STEM Academy daughter attempt to use circuitous in a sentence.
Ha ha ha! I love your sentence combining your favorite words. If I make ‘daughter’ plural, it applies perfectly to my life!