2015 Word of the Year

So many words came into our lives in 2015, how to pick just one?

First let's look back at some of the past words that defined our world:

2014 - Twerking
2013 - selfie
2012 - Binders of Women
2011 - Occupy
2008 - hope and change (tie)
2006 - NINJA Loan
2000 - pets.com
1995 - world wide what?
1990 - world peace forever
1985 - Hulkamania

2015 had many special words, some new, like Lumbersexual and on fleek, others had enhanced meaning like Dark Web and Sharing Economy.

One could make a strong argument for Trump. Hate him or love him he has defined the election thus far. He dominates the news cycle and controls the narrative of the campaign. While we won't select Trump for our word of 2015, we can hope that he is not even a contender for anything in 2016.

Another word that dominated our headlines in 2015 was Refugee. Whether from Syria, North Africa, Afghanistan or Latin America the flow of refugees has hit levels not seen since the Second World War. The prevalence of the word in news stories and political discussions highlight one of the great challenges of our time.

But another looms more directly in American psyche in 2015 and thus, sadly is the clear winner for 2015.

Active Shooter.

I will leave the reasoning and the solutions to smarter folk than me, but given the emergence and the sustained use of the word, there can be no doubt as to its status. There have been more mass shootings in the US than days in 2015 and thus more active shooters than ever before. Here is to hoping that this one's reign in our public consciousness is short lived.

Why are all of 2015's top words depressing?

As a preview for 2016 check out jawn.