No matter how you feel about 2013 it’s depressing to learn that the two most popular words of the year, according to the Global Language Monitor, are “404” and “fail”. You can’t paint a clearer picture than that.
The Global Language Monitor releases a list of top English words every year from the internet (including news, social media, blogs etc.) and print media, and they seem to track pretty well with international goings on. For example, Pope Francis is the most popular name this year and his Twitter handle, @pontifex, is the fourth most popular word on the list. In 2011 the word “occupy” ranked number 1.
Oh and by the way, the top phrase for 2013 is “toxic politics” in case international sentiment required further clarification. The president of the Global Language Monitor, Paul JJ Payack, noted that, “The recent ObamaCare launch debacle in the US is only a representative example of a much wider system fail.” Words like “surveillance,” “deficit” and “drones” also made the cut. Basically it’s a laundry list of everything we’re all worried about. And perhaps the most troubling revelation of all is that “twerking” comes in at number 13. [Global Language Monitor via Quartz]
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