‘Socialism’ Loses to ‘Austerity’ in Race for ‘Word of the Year’
- Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:16am by
Jonathon M. Seidl
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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — As Greece faced a debt crisis, the government passed a series of strict austerity measures, including taxes hikes and cutting public sector pay.
The move sparked angry protests, strikes and riots across the country as unemployment skyrocketed and the crisis spread to other European nations. The move also incited a rush to online dictionaries from those searching for a definition.
Austerity, the 14th century noun defined as “the quality or state of being austere” and “enforced or extreme economy,” set off enough searches that Merriam-Webster named it as its Word of the Year for 2010, the dictionary’s editors announced Monday.
John Morse, president and publisher of the Springfield, Mass.-based dictionary, said “austerity” saw more than 250,000 searches on the dictionary’s free online tool and came with more coverage of the debt crisis.
“What we look for … what are the words that have had spikes that strike us very much as an anomaly for their regular behavior,” Morse said. “The word that really qualifies this year for that is ‘austerity’.”
Runners-up also announced Monday included “pragmatic,“ ”moratorium,“ ”socialism,“ and ”bigot” – the last word resulted from public uses by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former CNN host Rick Sanchez and former NPR senior analyst Juan Williams.
Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster’s editor-at-large, said this year’s top 10 words were associated with a news event or coverage, which editors believe resulted in prolonged jumps in searches.
“Sometimes it’s hard to pinpoint the searches on one particular news event, but typically that is what sparks people’s curiosity in a word,” Sokolowski said.
For example, “socialism” was searched, editors believe, because of coverage around federal bailouts and Democratic-backed federal health care legislation. And editors noticed that “pragmatic” was looked-up a number of times after midterm elections.
According to Morse, the dictionary’s online website sees more than 500 million searches a year – with most of those being usual suspects like “effect” and “affect.” But he said words selected for the dictionary’s top 10 were words that had searches hundreds of thousands of out-of-character hits.
Also making the top ten list was the word “doppelganger.” Sokolowski said the word saw a jump in searches after George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s “Good Morning America” called “Eat, Pray, Love“ author Elizabeth Gilbert ”Julia Roberts’ doppelganger.” Roberts played Gilbert in the book’s film adaptation and resembles the writer.
“Doppelganger” was also used in the popular television show, “The Vampire Diaries.”
“Sometimes, that all it takes,” Sokolowski said.
Words “shellacking,“ ”ebullient,“ ”dissident,“ and ”furtive” also made this year’s top list.
Allan Metcalf, an English professor at MacMurray College in Jacksonville, Ill., and author of “OK: The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word,” said the list of words shows how the country is evolving because the public is looking up words that used to be very common.
“Around 20 to 30 years ago, everyone would know what ‘socialism’ was,” said Metcalf, who is also executive secretary of the American Dialect Society. “Same with bigot. That fact that they have to be looked up says something about us.”
That’s true with some words like “shellacking,” said Jenna Portier, an English instructor at Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La. Although Merriam-Webster editors said searches for the word spiked after President Barack Obama said he and his party took “a shellacking” from voters in midterm election, Portier said the word is very common in southern Louisiana. “Where I’m from, it means to varnish something like wood,” Portier said.
Shana Walton, a languages and literature professor also at Nicholls State University, said she understands how news events maybe influenced the dictionary’s list.
“If ‘moratorium’ is one of the most looked-up words, that’s clearly a reflection of how often the word was used in the wake of the BP oil spill,” said Walton, a linguistic anthropologist who is doing research on oil and land in south Louisiana. “Many people in south Louisiana expressed much more outrage about the moratorium, frankly, than about the spill.”
Metcalf said the American Dialect Society will release its “Word of the Year” winner in January, but it‘s selected by the group like Time’s Person of the Year.
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donnyho
Posted on December 21, 2010 at 10:51amInteresting more people know what socialism is than austerity.
Report Post »MUDFLAPS
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 10:20pmhot damn I have spent so many nights wondering what the word would be!!! I thought nancy peelousi told us what the word was. I mean the word ya know, I mean when you say the word thats all you gotta say. See, say the WORD its delicious its like I mean when I hear the WORD it just sends tingles right up my leg. I wonder if nancy has that same feeling. OOOOOP sorry I just puked in my mouth a bit.
Report Post »Col. HawK
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 10:05pmIMHO, they are the same word, just twisted around each other. If I was a judge, my chosen word for the year it would be ———> “ FREEDOM ”
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on December 21, 2010 at 5:40am“Austerity” and “socialism” are the same word? And — sorry, this is reference to an earlier post — both have not been used for centuries? Wow, I guess I need to go back and update my “teachin‘ larnin’”. Maybe I should sign up for some online courses at Beck U.
Report Post »Rowgue
Posted on December 22, 2010 at 1:56pmI said austerity is an obscure word that people haven’t used for centuries. I said nothing about the word socialism. I’m not sure what your larnin level is, but your reading comprehension could sure use some work.
Report Post »sdparker
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 5:00pmForget pretty words and make make use of the hard cold facts of socialist countries. Learn the reality of lifestyles in socialist countries. Stepping out of denial is the first step to knowing the meaning of ‘socialism’. It IS slavery. Americans are so spoiled they could not live a week in the socialist world. The sound of anything being offered as ‘free’ is as far as the thought gets When the government offers free services, be wary of the hook its attached to because its nothing less than bait. People are NOT ants in an ant farm. Yet the government seems to think We, the People will function exactly like an ant farm. Its a bit more complicated that that.
Report Post »rbagala
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 4:47pmTo paraphrase Margaret Thatcher “Socialism works great until you run out of other peoples money”
Report Post »Socialism stands for big government and excessive spending that goes with it. This pathway is now impossible to traverse as both Federal and state government’s lack the funds for a true Socialistic governance.
But austerity is one of the only methods to weather the “storm” of a collapsing economy. The people of the US have already cut back as much as we can. Now we are demanding the same from those we elected. If austerity becomes the by word in our government, it would be at the expense of Socialism.
Rowgue
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 3:13pmMost people use this word incorrectly, including the recent craze in the media. Perhaps they could include that in their write up for word of the year. That people were looking it up because they wanted to confirm that the hacks on the news were simply idiots trying to pretend to be smart by using impressive sounding words that people stopped using centuries ago.
Report Post »bigdaddybernie
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 12:50pmSPELL it any way you want to………….it’s still SOCIALISM !
Report Post »tinlizy
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 12:33pmWhy is america not leading the world on this. we need to cut spending by 65% and make a skeletan out of this government and bring it back to the states. then we need to lower taxes to a 15% flat tax. period. no progressive taxes anymore everyone pays their fair share so we all have a say in America
Report Post »Stupid Windmill
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 11:12amUp next on theblaze, an article that conflates Nazism with Communism.
I find it weird though, why is the title of the article implying that Socialism is Not Austerity?
Socialism comes about do to Austerity.
Report Post »A Extremist
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 12:52pmCommunism, Marxism, National Socialism (Nazis), Socialism, Fascism and the term Progressive all describe social systems that have failed. They all share a concept that involves central control in one form or another. History has proven over and over that central control always results in failure and death.
Free individuals acting in their own best interest will always produce the most productive and fair society.
Report Post »IVillageIdiot
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 12:57pmSometimes, but more accurately… vise-versa…. EVERY TIME….
Report Post »Sgt.Crust
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 9:19amOur govt is corrupt, our politicians are marianated in greed, our leaders giddy with power, don’t listen to us anymore. they pass laws that nobody wants, they strip us of our freedoms every day in doing so.
if we make it to 2012 intact as a nation, then we MUST vote out the rest of the progressive liberals and rinos, this is our priority! we have much work to do to organize for this next cycle of elections, and to fail to do so, will mean our complete and utter demise as a vibrant free Republic. stand up and be counted my friends, my compatriots, my fellow Americans! we enter a volatile time but we must hold our anger, stuff it in the bottom of your toes, and as always have restraint, no viloence should be started by any side. we have to live by the RULE OF LAW at all times, or else we are no better than the jackals and wild animals. I feel I am the resident kook you refer to here but I don’t really care, i am willing and able to take the heat for my words, but I mean no harm to anyone, not even our brothers and sisters on the left! sometimes I curse, belittle and rant, something that does make me look bad in your eyes, for that I am sorry. I just get caught up in the moment, there have been SO MANY of them recently, as everywhere I turn there is another problem. We ALL have a hand in our country’s woes, so let’s all have a hand in its salvation, we need to stand tall and together to rebuild the land of the free and home of the brave, without vitriol or violence, but as brothers and sisters of an extended family! E Pluribus Unum! May we defeat this push towards socialism and restore our Republic with dignity and peace.
In God We Trust
Report Post »SlimnRanger
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 10:01amSGT.Crust i for one enjoy your posts and i think we all say things from time to time because at the moment we are pissed and quite frankly don’t know what to do,keep up the good work man
Report Post »im4truth
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 3:23pmGod only knows I’ve said a lot of things I wish I could take back myself SGT.CRUST.
Report Post »It’s sometimes hard to keep a cool head, when so much is being tossed at us at once.
You’re right.
Vigilance without violence – not to mention a lot of prayer -
I don’t know what else can save this country beyond these things.
wash1776
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:54amBOO HOO!!! The poor socialists weren’t the most important word this year. BIG DEAL!! THEY ARE ONLY IMPORTANT IN THEIR OWN MINDS. What they really are is destroyers of liberty and lying, selfish thieves trying to give or take away as much of our money as they can.
Report Post »psykeskaos
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:47amThey just want the People to believe that not having work, and being on the brink of despair is the new Cool. Well I don’t buy into that for a minute. I still hold on to the American Dream.. Never Give Up..
Report Post »Buydebook56
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:29am“Just words. Just speeches.” B.O. I thought “transparency” would have made it. I’m sick of that word.
Report Post »JimOhio
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:21amWho gives a rat? Having learned many years ago this fact (don’t get me wrong I love words), when it comes to anything political, words are meaningless! It is what these people DO not what they say. At least 80% of politicians weave words like a tapestry to hide and cover their true intent, motives, and desires in order to serve their own self interests of self importance, greed, and power in order to manipulate others. Am I being CYNICAL? Perchance that should be the word of the year.
Report Post »DashRipRock
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:51amBoy
Report Post »When the people rioting in Belarus find out about this
they are really going to be upset.
GeauxAlready
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 4:52pmI have not seen a dashriprock show in ages
Report Post »GiGi80
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:48amUS “Socialism” Loses to “Austerity in Race for ”Word of the Year”
Report Post »Well, I certainly hope so, since “socialism” was certainly the most misunderstood and misused word of the year.
Oh, and I fixed the quotation marks in the headline for you, Jonathon (or “Jonathan”? maybe a typo?). You use full quotes, not half-quotes, when highlighting a word for definition or introduction.
kryptonite
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:39amWhile reading off his teleprompter, Barack Obama was unable to pronounce the word “superfluous”. That beats the 250,000 searches for the word “austerity”.
Report Post »felina g
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:37amMore nonsense.
Report Post »guyperram
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:36amTo little, to late. Same as us. These folks have bankrupted us with their policies over the last 40-50 years, which they merely accelerated when Barry took over.
Report Post »When the dollar goes into hyperinflation, causing disruption, martial law, and our wonderful new system, One World Gov’t, and currency we will look back at what we had, and the “elites” will find out just how elite they really aren’t.
GiGi80
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:50amWho, exactly, are the elites? People with enough intelligence to know the definition of “socialism” and to know that it’s “too little” not “to little”?
Report Post »IVillageIdiot
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:28amAt least there were people STILL looking up “Socialism”?!?!?
I‘d much more worried if they were choosing it and didn’t NEED…. to look it up…
Report Post »IVillageIdiot
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 7:35amNot…. that I’m NOT worried mind you….. I’m still worried…… ;}
at least until 2012 and we find out if we’re going to recover from this nightmare or auger in and have nothing left but the memories of liberty….
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:08amOne of the things that concerns me is how words are tossed around and labels given without much thought as to what their real meaning is. How many times have people been called Nazis, racist or terrorists without any connection via actions, politics or expressed thought other than in the mind of the speaker? The problem is that those who don’t know what the word means, the person labeled actually becomes an example of that word, regardless of whether they are or not.
And by doing this, the word loses its meaning and becomes blurred. I’ve seen people labeled as progressives and anarchists in the same article, which baffles me since anarchy generally advocates no rule of government while today’s self identified “progressives” promote increased government rule in both private business and individual lives. I suppose one could be a progressive anarchist, but I can’t imagine how.
Many people don’t know the difference between socialism, communism and fascism, which is also a problem. At least they are taking the time to look it up. Hopefully they will be referring to the correct concepts when they use the words.
Report Post »Deutscher
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 8:55am@taq.
Report Post »Agreed. I have never seen Nazi, Hitler, socialist and communist used interchangeably before. These words have a very specific meaning ( and some are even conflicting ). Using them so often in untwisted situations dilutes their meaning.
Stupid Windmill
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 11:07amIf you watch Glenn Beck you would think Nazis were the same thing as communists.
Report Post »jds7171
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 11:21amThere was two instances in my business class. One kid didn’t know what it was, and another kid, and I quote more like paraphrase: socialism isn’t illegal, so it can’t be a bad thing.
Report Post »CultureWarriors
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 11:54amThe only austerity I’m willing to accept here is governmental austerity. Those who work hard should enjoy the fruits of their labors. Those who don’t work, well, get a job.
Report Post »Nvrforget
Posted on December 20, 2010 at 12:53pm“socialism isn’t illegal, so it can’t be a bad thing.”
Wow. Thinking like this is pretty damn dangerous. How old is that guy?
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