Missed this the other day but Merriam-Webster’s 2011 word of the year is “pragmatic”.
Via Merriam-Webster:
The list reflects the interests and attitudes of visitors from around the world to Merriam-Webster.com and LearnersDictionary.com and is determined by the volume of user look-ups on those sites.
Topping the list is pragmatic, meaning “practical as opposed to idealistic,” which received an unprecedented number of user lookups throughout 2011. Pragmatic is not associated with any one event but instead describes “an admirable quality that people value in themselves and wish for in others, especially in their leaders and their policies,” said Peter Sokolowski, Editor at Large at Merriam-Webster. “It’s a word that resonates with society as a whole; something people want to understand fully.”
Number two on the list was ambivalence…
In 2010, Merriam-Webster’s word of the year was “Austerity”. 2009 saw “Admonish” and “Bailout” was all the rage in 2008.
2007 harkened back to more optimistic times. Back then, “W00t” topped the list.
Image via CBS News.
(Source: futurejournalismproject)
