Top Words Of The Decade 2000-2009: Most Popular Words

The Language Monitor has come up with the most commonly used words of the decade as part of their annual survey of the English language. The survey uses a mathematical formula to measure the popularity of word use both online and in print media.

The top word of the decade was "Global Warming" indicating concern and discussion about the environment was a strong and ongoing conversation throughout the decade.

Sustainable, another popular green term, came into the language strongly in 2006 and made the list at 22.

The full list is below:

The Top 25 Words of the Decade from 2000 - 2009

1. Global Warming (2000)

2. 9/11 (2001)

3. Obama (2008)

4. Bailout (2008)

5. Evacuee/refugee (2005): (Survivors of Katrina who had to be rescued)

6. Derivative (2007)

7. Google (2007)

8. Surge (2007)

9. Chinglish (2005)

10. Tsunami (2004)

11. H1N1 (2009)

12. Subprime ( 2007)

13. dot.com (2000)

14. Y2K ( 2000)

15. Misunderestimate (2002)

16. Chad ( 2000): (a la "Hanging Chad" in Florida after the Bush vs. Gore election)

17. Twitter (2008 )

18. WMD (2002) (Weapons of Mass Destruction)

19. Blog (2003)

20. Texting (2004)

21. Slumdog (2008) (Popularized by Slumdog Millionaire)

22. Sustainable (2006)

23. Brokeback (2004) (From Brokeback Mountain)

24. Quagmire (2004) (Referring to the Iraq War)

25. Truthiness (2006) (A contribution from Stephen Colbert)

Comments

[constitutional 1]

02:33 PM on 11/20/2009

If you own any shares in alternative energy companies I should start dumping them NOW. The conspiracy behind the Anthropogenic Global Warming myth (aka AGW; aka ManBearPig) has been suddenly, brutally and quite deliciously exposed after a hacker broke into the computers at the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (aka Hadley CRU) and released 61 megabites of confidential files onto the internet. (Hat tip: Watts Up With That)

When you read some of those files – including 1079 emails and 72 documents – you realise just why the boffins at Hadley CRU might have preferred to keep them confidential. As Andrew Bolt puts it, this scandal could well be “the greatest in modern science”. These alleged emails – supposedly exchanged by some of the most prominent scientists pushing AGW theory – suggest:

Conspiracy, collusion in exaggerating warming data, possibly illegal destruction of embarrassing information, organised resistance to disclosure, manipulation of data, private admissions of flaws in their public claims and much more.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100017393/climategate-the-final-nail-in-the-coffin-of-anthropogenic-global-warming/

[rpr]

04:53 PM on 11/22/2009

You're dumbly regurgitating whatever fits your "Nananananah, I can't hear you!" opinion on global warming.
As opposed to AGW deniers and other science illiterates, scientists openly discuss how they see it, and a consensus emerges. That consensus is firmly on the other side - on the side of reality. Read e.g. http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/world-on-course-for-catastrophic-6deg-rise-reveal-scientists-1822396.html.
Oh, and "trick" is a technical term. Just because you don't know it doesn't mean it is nefarious in this context.

[DocSkull]

11:30 AM on 11/23/2009

Whether or not you are a conspiracy theorist, fossil fuels are a finite resource and we'll need to develop alternate energy. Even if energy companies fear they might have to work harder to maintain their unprecedented profitability.

[Tim303]

02:03 PM on 11/20/2009

"Truthiness" and "misunderestimate." What a legacy.

[jer9848]

06:03 AM on 11/20/2009

I think the Repubs are trying to make dither #1.They love that word alot.

[Sensiblebg]

08:30 PM on 11/19/2009

I always thought Global
Warming was two words..

[teasley]

06:52 PM on 11/19/2009

#1. Global warming. And oddly enough the term is obsolete and no langer allowed.

[DocSkull]

11:32 AM on 11/23/2009

No longer allowed by whom? Many rightwingers seem to think that there has been some kind of change in language. Climate change still refers to all variations through time and global warming is used to define periods of increasing temperature like the one we're currently experiencing.

[hottingers]

06:45 PM on 11/19/2009

This list is a joke. No Waterboarding? And don't tell me these are just new words. Quagmire is not new. Tsunami? Surge?

[TobyPLD]

06:29 PM on 11/19/2009

global warning... joke.

[Galong]

03:08 AM on 11/20/2009

Denying global warming... irrational and irresponsible.

Why didn't "death panel" make the list. :-)

[LONDON3]

06:27 PM on 11/19/2009

.....Umm you left out "FUNDAMENTALLY".....this is the word of the day for EVERY politician even if it does NOT apply.....LOL

[revhatchell]

05:54 PM on 11/19/2009

after wall street robbing us blind, you would think "corn" and "hole" would have made it.

[bobbobato]

05:09 PM on 11/19/2009

So many words that should have made the list... 'epic', 'classic'... but I guess those words are only overused in entertainment.

[2008FedUP]

04:38 PM on 11/19/2009

I like "anyway"

[2008FedUP]

04:37 PM on 11/19/2009

...and the MOST ridiculous word (or group of people)..........TEABAGGERS formerly known as the...

[mcmutter]

03:14 PM on 11/19/2009

SOCIALISM ought to be # 1...........

[SpaghettyIrish]

02:55 PM on 11/19/2009

No "Haji?"

[bartonfink]

02:47 PM on 11/19/2009

"chinglish?" I read all day every day and have had a Chinese girlfriend for 4 yrs and I've never seen this word