Here are the
words chosen by the American Dialect Society as 2007's best
words or phrases:
*
Word of the Year: subprime --an
adjective used to describe a risky or less-than-ideal
loan, mortgage, or investment.
*
Most Useful: green -- designates environmental
concern.
*
Most Creative: Googleganger -- person with
your name who shows up when you Google yourself.
*
Most Unnecessary: Happy Kwanhanamas -- Happy
Holidays. Kwanzaa + Hanukkah + Christmas.
*
Most Outrageous: toe-tapper -- a
homosexual. Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican, was
arrested in June for an encounter in a Minneapolis
airport bathroom in which toe-tapping the floor was said
to have been used as a sexual come-on.
*
Most Euphemistic: human terrain team -- a
group of social scientists employed by the U.S.
military to serve as cultural advisers in Iraq or
Afghanistan.
*
Most Likely to Succeed: green
-- designates environmental concern.
*
Least Likely to Succeed: strand-in
-- protest duplicating being stranded inside an
airplane on a delayed flight.
*
Real Estate/Mortgage/Loan Words (New Category):
subprime. (AP)
