The Oxford American Dictionary named its word of the year 2009 and I couldn’t be more let down; unfriend. Really? Am I let down because the word unfriend has been in my lexicon for the last six years and those is charge of nominating these words took so long to catch up to Generation Y? Perhaps it’s because the word is completely uninteresting. I understand the award isn’t actually for the word itself but rather the meaning, which speaks to our nation’s over-consumption of social media. However, in my not-so-humble opinion, I can’t help but think the people over at OAD were slacking.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not denying that 2009’s word of the year should reflect our recent obsession with social media; I just think the OAD could have given the award to a more interesting word. For instance, intexticated. Not only is this word much more fun to say, but it’s also funny; distracted because texting on a cell phone while driving. I would also go so far as to say this also describes any social setting where one should be socializing but instead is absorbed in a far more interesting conversation via text, or perhaps dirty texting. Which brings me to another word: sexting – sending sexually explicit texts and pictures by cell phone. Perhaps the people at OAD thought this was understandably inappropriate.
Either way, I’m disappointed. You can check out the other contenders here. What do you think?
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