WORD (OR PHRASE) OF THE YEAR
This is the word or phrase which most signifies 2003.
Winner: metrosexual: noun, a fashion-conscious heterosexual male, or, as coiner Mark Simpson put it, a man who "has clearly taken himself as his own love object." 20-36-35
pre-emptive self-defense: noun, an attack before a possible attack.18-10
embed: verb, to place a journalist with troops or a political campaign. Noun, a journalist who is so placed. 7
zhuzh, tjuzs: verb, to plump up, fluff up or primp. 4
governator, gropenator, gropenführer: noun, the current Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. 3
weapons of mass deception: plural noun, :-)t for weapons of mass destruction as a pretext for war. 10
weapons of: formative, including weapons of mass destruction, weapons of mass distraction. 3
SARS: acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. This was a surprise entry after the first elimination round, unorthodoxly nominated by one of our members from China. (no first round)-24-31
MOST USEFUL: word or phrase which most fills a need for a new word
Winner flexitarian: noun, a vegetarian who occasionally eats meat. 31-41
SARS: 12-9
-shoring: formative, indicating the location of jobs or businesses, including offshoring, moving businesses or jobs out of the country; rightshoring, returning them to the US; and nearshoring, moving them to Canada. 3
embed: 8
ass-hat: noun, a thoughtless or stupid person. 3
text: verb, to send a text message. 11-24
MOST CREATIVE
Winner freegan: noun, person who eats only what they can get for free. 18-23-45
tanorexia: noun, the condition of being addicted to tanning. 0
governator, gropenator, gropenführer: 20-27-32
manscaping: noun, male body-shaving. 22-22
tofurkey: noun, a faux turkey crafted from tofu. Also a trade name. 1
metrosexual: 12
MOST UNNECESSARY: word for phrase for which we already have a perfectly good word, or which fills a need no one has.
Winner freedom: noun, replacing "French" in phrases or compound nouns such as French fries, French kiss, and French tickler. 54
Bennifer: noun, the couple of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. 18
MOST OUTRAGEOUS: word or phrase most likely to cause complaint.
Winner cliterati: collective noun, feminist or woman-oriented writers or opinion-leaders. 28-38
torture lite: noun phrase, torture short of bodily harm. 14
useful idiot: noun phrase, a human shield for the enemy. 6
DILF: abbreviation for Dad I'd Like to F..., patterned after MILF. 21-33
MOST EUPHEMISTIC: word or phrase which least says what it means to.
Winner pre-emptive self-defense: noun phrase, an attack made before a possible attack. 45
population reduction: noun phrase, a combat assignment. 4
transfer tube: compound noun, a body bag. 11
extraordinary rendition: noun phrase, the deportation to a country that will receive a person unkindly, such as with torture. 5
MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED: word or phrase most likely to be here next year.
Winner SARS: 40
zhuzh, tjuzs: 8
metrosexual: 14
-lite: combining form, as in patriotism lite, torture lite, Bush lite, a moderate Democrat. 9
LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED: word or phrase least likely to be here next year.
Winner tomacco: noun, a hybrid of tomato and tobacco, which happens to be poisonous. 54
Lib Radio: noun phrase, liberal talk radio. 7
zeta-jones: verb, to scarf or eat ravenously. 10
recockulous ridiculous 0
BEST REVIVAL: word or phrase brought back from the past.
Winner spider hole: compound noun, an expertly camouflaged hole used by soldiers from which they can strike. This term goes at least back to 1941. 52
downer sick cow 2
frog-marching: noun, walking awkwardly in restraints while under arrest. 10
Collyer: noun, in New York City, a person trapped under their own collected debris in their apartment. 4
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Words of the Year
