TEN WORDS OF THE YEAR

Awash in words, we look to dictionaries. But the wordsmiths who make dictionaries are looking to us to learn which words are keepers, which are fly-by-nights. Each year, some words make the cut and, along with becoming “buzzwords,” are honored as Word of the Year. Here are ten, some winners and some runners-up.

1. Truthiness (2005) — American Dialect Society and Merriam-Webster. Thanks to Stephen Colbert

2. Mansplaining (2010) — New York Times — Thanks to Rebecca Solnit — “Explaining without regard to the fact that the explainee knows more than the explainer, often done by a man to a woman"

3. Lumbersexual (2014) — Linguist Grant Barrett — “A man who adopts the dress and facial hair of the stereotype of a woodsy, outdoors man, usually at substantial expense and with great attention to hygiene, style and clothing.”

4. They — (2019) Merriam-Webster — The plural pronoun used as singular in a transgender context.

5. Bingewatch (2015) — Collins English Dictionary. Thanks to Netflix.

6. Dumpster fire (2016) — American Dialect Society — a complete disaster

7. Gaslight (2016) — American Dialect Society runner up — “To psychologically manipulate a person into questioning their own sanity.” Thanks to the 1944 movie with Ingrid Bergman

8. Tergiversate (2011) — Dictionary.com — “To fudge, equivocate, waffle, etc.”