Date:  Tue, 19 Dec 1995 13:57:32 -0600

From:  Cynthia Bernstein <bernscy[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MAIL.AUBURN.EDU>

Subject: Re: woty



Here at Auburn, "hey" is the equivalent of the Texas A&M "howdy." It's

not a new word; in fact, it's so much a part of the institution that "hey

day" is celebrated each year.



Cynthia Bernstein

Dept. of English

Auburn University, AL 36849-5203





On Tue, 19 Dec 1995 debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UIUC.EDU wrote:



> Here's my personal list, finally.

>

> The Word of the Year

> by Dennis Baron

>

> It's time again to announce the word of the year, and one of the finalists

> for 1995 is "hey." Hey is fast becoming the universal informal greeting.

> Like aloha and shalom, hey can mean both hello and good-bye. It's used

> more than "hi," and a lot more than "hello." The exclamation "hey" goes

> back to the twelfth century. Medieval children often said "Hey!" to which

> their middle-aged parents replied, "Hey is for horses." "Hey" as a

> greeting made its dictionary debut less than five years ago. It may be a

> shortened form of "Hey, what's happenin'?" My children say "hey" all the

> time, both coming and going. And their medieval parents still reply, "Hey

> is for horses."

>     Another finalist for word of the year is "cool," which is actually

> pronounced "kul." Like hey, cool is popular among the young, who act like

> they invented it. In fact cool first became hot back in the 1950s, as part

> of the lingo of jazz musicians. Like those wide ties in my closet, "cool"

> is back in style, and if you want to sound like a nineties type of person,

> you might want to trot out a "Hey, cool," every once in a while-but please,

> leave those wide ties on the rack.

>     Speaking of a nineties type of person, the turning of the year has

> turned public attention toward the millennium, and while this year the word

> "millennium" rates the second runner-up spot, in a few short years it

> should move up to word of the year in its own right. Whether the

> millennium brings the destruction of civilization or just one heck of a big

> New Year's bash, everybody is looking forward to Century 21. The most

> popular resorts are already booked solid for Dec. 31, 1999, and the

> pessimists who think there won't be a January 1, 2000, have already picked

> out the best trees to wait in, so they can be closer to heaven when the end

> comes. Unfortunately, there's some disagreement over just when the next

> thousand years will start. Purists assure us that the millennium won't

> turn until Dec. 31, 2000, which is why Arthur C. Clarke called his

> apocalyptic space odyssey "2001." That gives us more time to plan the

> party, and we'll get a whole extra year to use the word "millennium." But

> if you're going to spend that bonus year sitting up in a tree, I can see

> why a more precise method of dating things would be useful to you.

>     Runner-up for word of the year is "Windows95." The Microsoft

> Corporation spent a lot of money to ensure that Windows95 would be the best

> word of 1995, but unlike the Beatles CD, Windows95 didn't "walk out the

> door." Those who did buy it were soon jamming help lines to find out how

> to make the new operating system live up to its promise. Even if it was

> initially disappointing, Windows95 is expected to cause a major shift in

> how we use computers, though Microsoft may have to wait for Windows2000 to

> meet its sales quota.

>     And now it's time to announce the word of the year for 1995,

> actually a phrase: "the World Wide Web." The World Wide Web-the Web, for

> short-is a vast collection of computer sites, a virtual reality somewhere

> in cyberspace. It's called the Web because everything on it is connected.

> Just click on a picture or some highlighted text, and suddenly you're

> someplace else. Not only can you explore the Web, but anyone with a

> computer and a modem can create their own Web "home page." Businesses are

> using home pages to advertise their wares. Schools and museums have home

> pages. Even Congress and NASA have home pages-but don't try to use them if

> the government happens to be shut down for a budget crisis: webmasters, who

> maintain home pages, are considered nonessential personnel.

>     Web home pages are popular with individuals as well. You can put

> your picture on your home page, or a picture of your dog. You can put your

> diary, or your resume, or your favorite recipes on it. I'm not sure why

> anyone would want one, but personal home pages have become so popular that

> people without them are starting to feel left out. I don't have a home

> page, but I'm on the Web. Someone put my picture on their Web page.

> Someone else put an article I wrote on the Web. I found both by accident,

> while browsing the Web. You may be on the Web too, without knowing it.

> Someone out there is putting us all on the Web, one by one, a virtual

> spider collecting us for her own inscrutable ends, or perhaps just a

> Microsoft employee. The Web is becoming as inevitable as the millennium.

> It has earned its place as the word of the year.

> ------------------------

>

> Dennis Baron                      debaron[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uiuc.edu

>

> Department of English             office: 217-333-2392

> University of Illinois                fax: 217-333-4321

> 608 South Wright Street            home: 217-384-1683

> Urbana, Illinois 61801

>