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W.M.D. Voted 2002's Word of the Year
(AP) - A long-winded phrase whose meaning reflects a nation's worry about war with Iraq has been voted 2002's word of the year. The American Dialect Society selected "weapons of mass destruction" as its annual choice at a meeting in Atlanta. "The term goes back 50 years, but you can't turn on the radio or television without hearing about 'weapons of mass destruction,'" said Wayne Glowka, an English professor at Georgia College & State University who is also chairman of the society's new words committee.
The American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, has been choosing words of the year since 1990.
"There is no scientific method of determining which words or phrases will be named words-of-the-year," said Allan Metcalf, executive secretary of the group. "It's kind of like Time magazine determining the whistle-blowers were the person-of-the-year. There is no objective way of determining it. It's all done with a show of hands."
The phrase "regime change" was voted most euphemistic, not so much for its connotations to Iraq, but because people started using it to describe other changes of leadership.
"Like when a team fires a coach, they call it 'regime change,'" Glowka said.
There was only one nomination for 2002's most inspirational word: "embetterment," coined by President Bush (news - web sites). But even though it was the only candidate in that category, it was voted down because "people didn't want to encourage it," Glowka said.
Other words won superlatives from the American Dialect Society:
_ Wombanization, a synonym for feminization, won most unnecessary because it's hard to pronounce.
_ Neuticles, a brand name for fake testicles for neutered pets, was named the most outrageous word.
_ Blog, a log of personal events posted on the Web, was voted most likely to succeed.
Iraqnaphobia, meaning a strong fear of war with Iraq, won most creative.
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Well what do ya think?
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Joined: Dec 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I love that the ADS's Word o' the Year is high up on whoozi's Banned Words list.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Thanks for posting this, milum. I think their word last year was "weapons-grade." Frightening trend.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, at the end of the day...  >weapons of mass destruction< Yes, ubiquitous, now, as the above nauseating phrase. But how big is the required mass to earn the phrase as label...a bit subjective, don't you think? I mean, machine guns didn't do too badly at the First Battle of the Somme in WWI, for instance. Grapeshot was fairly effective for destroying masses of men during the US Civil War, too. Neuticles is new to me!  So, I guess a begrudging improvement would be embittered embetterment?
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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>ADS's Word o' the Year is high up on whoozi's Banned Words list.
one hopes that, in spite of the "American" in the organization's name, that there is some irony embedded (if not embettered) in their selections.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Why would one want to put neuticals on a pet?
Dog: Give him something to lick.
Cat: You just don't understand how embarrassing it can be to an erstwhile tom. Course you need some artificial pheromones, too.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Neutered dogs are, I believe, exluded from AKC=sponsosred dog shows. Why anyone would want to go to the trouble of getting a neutered animal declared a champion is beyond me. The bloodline ENDS!
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Actually, there's more to the neutered thing than I thought. It seems that some years ago the AKC began authorizing two types of registrations for pure-bred animals, one unlimited and one restricted.
Dogs in the restricted category are deemed by the breeder to be unfit for show, and are ineligible for showing in the ring, though they can compete in other categories, such as earthdog, coonhound, coursing, and a couple of others. Apparently most such dogs are sold with a requirement that the new owner spay or neuter the puppy, and the AKC appears to assist in this effort to clean up the blood lines by refusing to register offspring of a dog in the restricted category.
The A in AKC probably stands for Aryan now!
TEd
PS:
The earthdog was a new one on me!
TEd
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