Software
Oxford Dictionary’s 2009 Word of the Year is ‘unfriend’
By Jim DalrympleNovember 16, 2009, 11:52 am PT
Oxford Dictionary released its Word of the Year for 2009 and this year’s winner is one many of us are familiar with: unfriend.
unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.
“It has both currency and potential longevity,” said Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.”
Other words considered for the Word of the Year honor in the technology category included hashtag, intexticated, netbook, paywall and sexting.
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To friend, or to unfriend, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune… and by opposing, end them… Alternate version from HAMLET, by Will Shakespeare.
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Oxford Dictionary’s 2009 Word of the Year is ‘unfriend’
By Jim DalrympleNovember 16, 2009, 11:52 am PT
Oxford Dictionary released its Word of the Year for 2009 and this year’s winner is one many of us are familiar with: unfriend.
unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.
“It has both currency and potential longevity,” said Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.”
Other words considered for the Word of the Year honor in the technology category included hashtag, intexticated, netbook, paywall and sexting.
Email This Post
⋅ Print This Post
⋅ Post a comment
Discussion 1 comment so far
-
To friend, or to unfriend, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune… and by opposing, end them… Alternate version from HAMLET, by Will Shakespeare.
Post a comment