Word of the Year 2008: "Bailout" (In Use, 1970s)

The Word of the Year 2008 is bailout, according to the American Dialect Society, which balloted yesterday in San Francisco. The word is understood by the Society to mean "rescue by the government of companies on the brink of failure, including large players in the banking industry."

The ADS word-of-the-year is only 19 years old, or the Society would have run into "bailout" before, at least as long ago as the late 1970s when used to describe the proposed first rescue of the Chrysler Corporation.

The word was used in a description of the unflappable lady who handled the matter for Senator William Proxmire's Banking Committee, Elinor Bachrach (who later became Deputy to NY State Comptroller Ned Regan). She also dealt with New York City's rescue in 1975 and a couple of other institutions in trouble. So a term of endearment by which she was then known was "Billion-Dollar Bailout Bachrach" - with another word before "Bailout", something like Boondoggle or Basket-Case.

So if the ADS word-of-the-year were a little older, "bailout" might be have been taken and the winning word could then have been one of these:
- Most creative: recombobulation area, at Milwaukee's Mitchell Airport where passengers who "have just passed through security screening can get their clothes and belongings back in order."
- Most unnecessary: moofing, i.e., "mobile out of office," working with laptop and cell phone.
- Most outrageous: terrorist fist jab, a knuckle-to-knuckle fist bump, or "dap," traditionally performed between two black people as a sign of friendship, celebration or agreement and described as "the terrorist fist jab" by newscaster E. D. Hill, formerly of Fox News.
- Most likely to succeed: shovel-ready, an infrastructure projects that can be started quickly when funds become available.

Other nominees that caught my eye:
lipstick on a pig: An adornment of something that can't be made pretty.
game-changer: In business and politics, something that alters the nature of a marketplace, relationship, or campaign. From sports. "something that changes a match or contest."
Palinesque: Pertaining to persons who have extended themselves beyond their expertise, thereby bringing ridicule upon a serious matter.
long photo: A video of 90 seconds or less. Used by the photo-sharing web site Flickr.
First Dude: The husband of a governor or president.
bromance: A very close relationship between two heterosexual men.

Comments

[LimerickSavant]

So "bail-out" was Word of the Year?
As a verb, we expected to hear
It used one of the times
When, for myriad crimes,
Those crooks went to court to appear!

[John Tepper Marlin - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks LimerickSavant.

The reason I cry in my beer
Is the trillions of bailouts, I fear,
Will add up too soon
And stretch to the moon,
We may wish that we had them still near.

[larry278]

Is there an abbreviation of the year? fubar/snafu & swag [sophistocated wildly absurd guess] should be considered for 2008.

[GrantBarrett]

Mr. Marlin, a few things you should know:

--The word-of-the-year vote may only be 19 years old, but the society itself is 119 years old.

--The word of the year does not have to be brand new. As we always make clear, it can also be newly prominent. "Bailout" was highly resurgent this year and was, therefore, a highly appropriate word. The press release, for example, says "The words or phrases do not have to be brand-new, but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year."

--As American Dialect Society member Ben Zimmer makes clear at Language Log, the financial sense of "bailout" dates to at least the 1930s, which many of us were aware of when the vote was cast. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=993

Sincerely,

Grant Barrett
Vice President of Communications and Technology
and Chair of the New Words Committee
of the American Dialect Society
http://americandialect.org

[John Tepper Marlin - Huffpost Blogger]

Mr. Barrett - Thanks for commenting. I was aware of the long and distinguished history of the American Dialect Society. My point was that if the word-of-the-year program were around in the 1970s, bailout would have been taken. Or can you have the same word repeat? My reference to the 1970s also notes that New York City was then one of the bailout cases, and it's not a "company". Nor in 2008 should one consider Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac a "company" because they were set up by the government and are known as government-sponsored enterprises. "Entity" would be more inclusive. The link to Zimmer's realtime blog is helpful. Thanks again.