The year isn't even over yet but the Top Words of 2011 are already in. The Global Language Monitor has announced their predictions for what will be hot buzzwords next year. Among them? TwitFlocker and Hobbit.
“Typically, we gather our top words throughout the year and rank them according to the number of citations, the size and depth of their linguistic footprint and momentum. To project possible top words for 2011, we analyzed the categories that we monitor and then choose words from each representative of various word trends,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of GLM. “Over the last ten years, we’ve frequently been asked the question, so this year we are providing our projections.”
Thankfully, "guido and guidette" did not make the list (sorry, "Jersey Shore" cast). Here are the top 10, with a breakdown of why each word is expected to spread like wildfire:
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1. Twenty-Eleven The agreed-upon term for 2011 rolls off the tongue more easily than "two thousand eleven."
2. Obama-mess The word that placed number nine on David Letterman’s Top 10 Words Of 2010 list is expected to grow in popularity on 2011.
3. Great Recession "Even the best-case scenario has the economy digging out of this hole for the foreseeable future," the GLM predicts.
4. Palinism After she invented the word "refudiate" in 2010, Sarah Palin has been crowned the new heir to Bushisms by the GLM, who expect her to come up with more linguistic gems in 2011.
5. TwitFlocker A possible new handle for the next Twitter or Facebook.
6. 3.0 A ‘one-up’ of the adding-2.0-to-the-end-of-everything trend (Obama 2.0, Web 2.0, Lindsey Lohan 2.0, etc.).
7. 9/11 Since September 2011 will mark the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the phrase is expected to experience a resurgence.
8. Climate Change or Global Warming With both phrases already holding spots in Top Ten Words lists of the last decade, they are expected to grow in popularity as they continue to be hot-button issues in environmental and clean energy debates.
9. China or Chinese The emergence of China is the Top Story of the Decade, according to the GLM, and there is little debate that its rapid growth will continue to be highlighted by government officials and the media.
10. Hobbit and/or Parseltongue Parseltongue is the language of snakes in Harry Potter's magical world, and with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, slated for a July 14, 2011 release date, it could become a buzzword. Although The Hobbit's estimated release won't be until December 2012, the GLM states that it is "sure to spin out some word or phrase that will remain memorable to the Earthly-audience."
This article was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to Live Science. Follow Remy Melina on Twitter @RemyMelina
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