Chrysti The Wordsmith: American Dialect Society - 3

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith from Montana State University in Bozeman. The American Dialect Society consists of linguists etymologists Marion's university students and independent scholars who gather annually to vote for the word of the year. A term or phrase that best captures the discourse of the prior 12 months. In January of 2009 the American Dialect Society selected tweet as the word of the Year for 2009. The most creative Word of the year for last year by American Dialect Society standards was Dracula sneeze covering the mouth with the crook of the elbow when sneezing seen as similar to popular portrayals of the vampire Dracula in which he covers the lower half of his face with a cape. The American Dialect Society also chooses candidates for another lexical category called the most unnecessary word of the year. And the winner here is sea kittens. A tender little moniker for fish coined by PETA or people for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Octo mom a

nickname of Nadi Suliman who gave birth to octuplets in January was a runner up for most unnecessary word of the Year for 2009. Another candidate in this category was the verb Salahi to gate crash after the surname of the couple who visited a White House event without an invitation. Next time on the series more 2009 winners from the American Dialect Society. I'm Christie the wordsmith. CHRISTIE The wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.