The American Dialect Society will choose its Words of the Year 2001 at its annual meeting in San Francisco on January 4, 2002.

Representatives of the media are invited to join members and friends of the American Dialect Society as they discuss and vote on the words and phrases that are most representative of the past year.

On Friday, Jan. 4, the final selections will be made in two sessions at the Hyatt Regency—Embarcadero, where the American Dialect Society meets in association with the Linguistic Society of America. Nominations will be determined in a meeting from 10:30 a.m. to noon in the Golden Gate Room on the Bay Level of the Hyatt Regency. The final votes in all categories will be taken in Seacliff A/B on the Bay Level from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. All voting is by voice, so results are immediately known to all. Before each vote, those present are invited to speak on behalf of their candidates.

The words or phrases do not have to be brand new, but they have to be newly prominent or distinctive in the past year. The election is serious, based on members’ expertise in the study of words, but it is far from solemn. Words will be chosen in a number of categories including Most Useful, Most Unnecessary, and Most Euphemistic. An overall Word (or Phrase, or Prefix) of the Year will also be chosen.

Presiding at the Jan. 4 nominating session will be Professor Wayne Glowka of Georgia College and State University, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society. He conducts the column “Among the New Words” in the society’s quarterly journal American Speech.

Glowka will present his list of candidates, as well as those proposed by David Barnhart of Lexik House, Hyde Park, New York. He is editor of the quarterly Barnhart Dictionary Companion, the only periodical devoted to new words.

The American Dialect Society began choosing Words of the Year in 1990. Previous winners are here.

Wayne’s Words 2001
These are the words and phrases nominated by Wayne Glowka, chair of the American Dialect Society’s New Words Committee. Other nominees are expected and welcome.

Wayne Glowka
Georgia College & State University
Milledgeville, GA 31061

America’s New War n. War waged by the US after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (Lexis-Nexis Sept 15, 2001)

anti-Al-Qaeda adj. Opposed to the international terrorist organization of Osama bin Laden (Lexis-Nexis Oct 10, 2001)

Apocalypse sex, Armageddon sex n. Sexual relations resulting from bonding promoted by the collapse of the WTC (Time [fr. AtlConst] Oct 1, 2001)

cuddle puddle n. 1: Jacuzzi (in Southern Africa) (Lexis-Nexis Mar 20, 1987) 2: Pile of ecstasy users on the floor (USA Today Aug 1, 2001)

EC adj. Emotionally correct; knowing how to move people in an acceptable way in times of crisis, anxiety, or confusion (USA Today Oct 8, 2001; but note emotionally correct Lexis-Nexis Dec 3, 1997)

evil doers n. Persons responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 (in the parlance of President George W. Bush) (OED2 1398)

ground zero[OED2 ‘that part of the ground situated immediately under an exploding bomb, esp. an atomic one’ 1946] n. Site of the former World Trade Center (Lexis-Nexis Sept 12, 2001)

hyperterrorism n. Large-scale destruction perpetrated by terrorists (Lexis-Nexis Sept 13, 2001)

Let’s roll catch phrase. Let us take action (words of Todd Beamer on United Airlines flight 93 before the attack that foiled the hijackers on Sept 11, 2001) (Lexis-Nexis Sept 16, 2001)

Netwallah n. Web-site designer/manager (Lexis-Nexis 0 hits; OED2 wallah 1776 fr. Hindi or Hindustani)

9/11, 9.11, 9-11, Sept. 11 n. September 11, 2001, the day the WTC and the Pentagon were attacked by hijacked commercial airliners (Lexis-Nexis 9/11 Sept 12, 2001)

notcom n. Business conducting operations primarily in meat space (CNN Headline News Jan 29, 2001 “This was the year of the notcom.” [said in reference to Super Bowl television ads]; Lexis-Nexis Feb 5, 2001)

Once Negro n. Black eleven (i.e., September 11, 2001, in a corrido) (NPR Morning Edition Nov 20, 2001)

orthorexia nervosa n. Obsession with eating the right foods (Lexis-Nexis Dec 22, 2001)

Osamaniac n. Woman sexually attracted to Osama Bin Laden (Lexis-Nexis: Jenny McCartney Sunday Telegraph [London] Oct 14, 2001)

patriot hacking n. Vandalism of an enemy’s Web sites (Chicago Tribune Sept 27, 2001)

post-Sept. 11 adj. Of the world after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (Lexis-Nexis Sept 14, 2001)

post-Taliban adj. Of the time in Afghanistan following the collapse of the Taliban regime (Lexis-Nexis Sept 21, 2001)

Sept. 10, September 10 adj. Oblivious to impending danger; petty, self-absorbed (Lexis-Nexis Oct 12, 2001 “When you find yourself agitated about something that is not very important, remind yourself how that is so very Sept. 10.”)

stage-calling n. Making ostentatious cell-phone calls so that other people know how important the caller is (or thinks he is) (Chicago Tribune [fr. NYT] Nov 26, 2001)

teentailer n. Retailer of clothes for teenagers (Lexis-Nexis Sept 2, 2001)

Terrible Tuesday n. Tuesday, September 11, 2001, the day terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (Lexis-Nexis: first use with diff. def. Aug 9, 1987; with ref. to 9/11/01 Sept 13, 2001)

theoterrorism n. Violence perpetrated on civilians for a religious purpose (Humanist Mar/April 2000).