counter customizable free hit
Location: Home

Countdown to the 1,000,000 Word

By: admin
Published: June 17th, 2008

4,156 remain as of the Summer Solstice!

For information or interviews call 1.925.367.7557 or send email to Editor@LanguageMonitor.com

Posted in GLM | No Comments »

Welcome to The Global Language Monitor

By: admin
Published: June 14th, 2008

English will hit its Millionth Word on April 29, 2009

 

During the 10-day period around 4/29/09 according to GLM’s latest calculation

The Million Word March Stands at 995,892

Austin, Texas June 30, 2008 - MetaNewswire — Never before in the history of the world has a single language held as dominant a position as English does today. Over a billion people can now read this sentence-think about that for a minute. With a mind-boggling 25 percent of the world speaking English, that’s a lot of sources for new words to be added to this global language, which brings us to another awesome statistic: according to Paul J.J. Payack, English will adopt its millionth word within a ten-day period centered upon April 29, 2009.

Newest Additions to the English Language: 

 

  • Staycation: (noun) Keeping close to home on annual holiday, either because of economic conditions or the cost of gas/petrol.
  • e-vampire: (noun) electric equipment that consumes energy while in standby mode.

The Million Word March currently stands just short of the million-word mark. The English Language has some 1.35 billion speakers as a first, second or auxiliary language.

 Up Next:

  • The Top 25 Fashion Cities of the World (July 14)
  • Words of the Olympics (July 28)
  • The Top US Colleges and Universities (August 26)
  • Top Television Words of the 2008 Season (September 16)
  • The Top Political Buzzwords of the US Presidential Campaign (September through November)
  • Top All-Time Bushisms (November 25)

 

The WordMan’s Guide to Global English:  Payack expands on the Million Word Count and the emergence of Global English upon the world stage in a Million Words and Counting:  New York, Citadel Books (2008).

Media Analysis:

 

Top Political Buzzwords of 2008 Primary Season 

 

Listen to the interview here:

Change, Ill-chosen Words and Race Dominate

 

Comments by Michelle Obama, Jeremiah Wright and both Clintons

 Austin, TX July 2, 2008 MetaNewswire — ‘Change,’ ill-chosen words by Michelle Obama, Jeremiah Wright and both Clintons, and ‘Race’ were named the Top Political Buzz Words and Phrases of the Recently concluded primary season by the Global Language Monitor in its periodic survey. The Top Ten included ‘Just Words,’ ‘Misspoke,’ ‘Inevitability,’ ‘Aloof,’ and ‘Obama a Muslim?’

The word ‘change’ remains atop the chart as it has for the last six months, however Michelle Obama’s ‘proud of my country’ comments rocketed to the No. 2 position, up from No. 5 in the previous survey, knocking the comments by Rev. Wright from the No. 2 to No. 3 position.                            

“The entire list is quite sobering, and rather surprising.  Sobering in the fact that the list is dominated by those issues and sound bites generated by the negative sides of the campaign.  The list is surprising in the fact that strong preponderance of the words and phrases are related to the Democratic campaign with just a handful from the Republican side,” said Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor (GLM). 

  

 

This Sunday, the contenders’ spoken words are talk of the day

 

Political buzzwords are terms of phrases that become loaded with emotional freight beyond the normal meaning of the word.  For example, the word surge has been in the English-language vocabulary since time immemorial.  However, in its new context as an Iraq War strategy, it inspires a set of emotions in many people far beyond the norm.

The ranking is determined by GLM’s PQI Index, a proprietary algorithm that scours the global print and electronic media, the Internet, and blogosphere for ‘hot’ political buzzwords and then ranks them according to year-over-year change, acceleration and directional momentum.  Using this methodology, GLM was the only media analytics organization that foresaw the ’04 electorate voting with their moral compasses rather than their pocketbooks.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Hindi’s take on the latest Political Buzzwords

 

 

 

 

The Top Political Buzzwords of the Primary Season of the 2008 Presidential Campaign follows with Ranking, Buzzword, Previous Ranking, and Comment.

 

  1. Change (1) – Number 1 buzzword of the Primary Season with an index rating 10X that of any other word or phrase..
  2. ‘Proud of my country’ (5) – In the last month alone, Ms. Obama’s ‘first time’ quote is up over 200% in citations.  Apparently, Michelle plays a far larger role in this campaign than many suspect.
  3. Jeremiah Wright (2) – Obama’s former pastor looms large in the media and on the web.
  4. Race – (4) The word actually means ‘lineage’. The numbers say it’s more significant than most would like to hear.
  5. Bill Clinton’s Jesse Jackson Comments (3) – Though fading, made a lasting impact and impression.
  6. Misspoke – (10) As did her Sniper Fire episode and subsequent explanation.
  7. Bosnian Sniper Fire (9) – Reverberations continued from Hillary’s ‘misspeaking’
  8. Just Words (6) – Clinton’s characterization of Obama’s eloquence has had an impact.
  9. Internet fundraising (8) – Obama’s adeptness in using the Internet as a primary source of funding was major buzz.
  10. Inevitability (7) – Mark Penn’s Inevitability Strategy still under discussion (and derision).
  11. Working Class Whites (12) – Discussion (with racial subtext) up some 500% from the beginning of the year.
  12. Thrown Under the Bus (13)– Directly related to Clinton’s Kitchen Sink Strategy but also said of Obama and Reverend Wright.
  13. Obama a Muslim? (14) – Though he is a proclaimed Christian, the question lingers.
  14. Aloof (15) — Obama demeanor has its drawbacks according to the PQI.
  15. Punditocracy (16) — Those inhabiting the Media Echo Chamber find themselves part of the story.
  16. Bitter (17) – Obama’s characterization of blue-collar Pennsylvania Whites to an audience of West-Coast supporters.
  17. Gender (18) — According to the media buzz, not nearly the as dominating as the word race.
  18. Experience (19) – Hillary’s original argument no longer resonant as early in the primary season.
  19. Surge (20) – One of 2007’s Top Words, still used mainly in relation to Senator McCain.
  20. 100 Years War (21) – The original One Hundred’s Year War actually lasted 116 years.

Words dropped from the list:  Latte Liberal and Kitchen Sink Strategy.

The Top Political Buzzwords for the 2006 Midterm Elections included:  Throes, Quagmire, Credibility, Global Warming, and Insurgency. 

 

The Top Political Buzzwords from the 2004 Presidential Campaign included:  swift boats, flip flop/flopping, quagmire, Fahrenheit 911, misleader and liar!

The WordMan in Austin, TexasPaul JJ Payack & Stevie Ray Vaughn in Austin

“I’ll bet he’s missed a few Texas expressions, like “mom ‘n ‘em.”  — John Kelso, Austin American-Statesman writing on A Million Words and Counting.

 

‘Nappy-Headed Ho’:  Top Politically inCorrect Word or Phrase

 

San Diego and Henderson , NV . March 21, 2008. ‘Nappy-headed Ho,’’ closely followed by ‘Ho-Ho-Ho’ and ’Carbon Footprint Stomping’ top the list of the most egregious examples of politically inCorrect language found in 2007 by the Global Language Monitor in its annual global survey. This year’s list includes words and phrases from the US , the UK , Australia , and China .

Shock jock named king of politically incorrect

“It is no surprise that a ‘Nappy-headed Ho’ was selected as the Top Politically Incorrect word or phrase for 2007,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of The Global Language Monitor (GLM). “A year later that phrase is still ricocheting about the Internet even affecting Christmas-season Santas in Australia.” The list was nominated by the GLM’s Language Police, volunteer language observers from the world over.

The Top Politically Incorrect Terms and Phrases for previous years include:

  • 2006: Global Warming Denier
  • 2005: Misguided Criminals
  • 2004: Master/Slave computer jargon

[Read More]

GLM in Recent Scholarship

 

 

Top HollyWORDIEs of 2007

 

“Call it, Friendo,” “I drink your milkshake,” and “Juno-verse”

San Diego , Calif. March 11, 2008. “Call it, Friendo” from the multi-Oscar winner No Country for Old Men, ‘Drink your milkshake” from There Will Be Blood, and the various phrasings from what has come to be known as the Juno-verse, from the teen pregnancy sleeper, were named the Top HollyWORDIEs of 2007. The annual survey by the Global Language Monitor tracks the words from Hollywood that most influenced the English Language. “Maddness? This is S-P-A-R-T-A!” from The 300, and “I’m not the guy you kill; I’m the guy you buy off.” from Michael Clayton rounded out the top five.

“Tú decides, amigo” El Pais (Madrid)

“This year, the top HollyWORDS tended to be phrases rather than individual words as in years past,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor “The selected phrases have already begun to seep into the ‘English language as evidenced by even a cursory web search.” “High Five!!! Its sexy time!’ from Borat! were the top words of 2006, while ‘Brokeback’ from Brokeback Mountain , “Pinot” from Sideways, and “wardrobe malfunction” were nabbed for top honors previous to that.

[Read More.]

‘Obama’ as a Word Enters English Language

 

 

   Watch the Jeanne Moos’ CNN Segment

 

San Diego, California, (March 3, 2007) The latest word to enter the English language is ‘obama’ in its many variations, according to the Global Language Monitor (GLM), GLM tracks the growth and evolution of the English language around the globe. The word is derived from the name, Barack Obama, the Senator from

Illinois, and a top contender for the Democratic nomination for the US Presidency. Obama- is used as a ‘root’ for an ever-expanding number of words, including: obamamentum, obamaBot (new!), obamacize, obamarama, obamaNation, obamanomics, obamican, obamafy, obamamania, and obamacam. The list is growing.
In August 2007, GLM noted that ‘obama’ had become a political buzzword, ranking No. 2 on its Top Political Buzzwords list of the 2008 Presidential Campaign. Presidential names that have made the leap include Jeffersonian, Lincolnesque, Nixonian, and Clintonesque (referring to former president Bill Clinton).
Many names have made the leap into the language including OK (from the nickname
US President Martin Van Buren “Old Kinderhook”); jacuzzi, kodak, macadam, Caesarian section (after Julius Caesar); decibel (the measure of sound), Hertz, and frisbee. [Read More.]

Top Words of 2007

 

‘Hybrid’ bests ‘Surge’ as Top Word; ‘Climate Change’ is Top Phrase;
Al Gore’ is Top Name

 

History of Top Words of the Year from 2000!

 

 

San Diego, CA and Henderson, NV (December 13, 2007) ‘Hybrid’ is Top Word, ‘Climate Change’ is Top Phrase, and ‘Gore’ is Top Name atop the Global Language Monitor’s annual global survey of the English language. The Top Smiley is ?-) for ‘’pirate’. The most understood word on the planet is the word OK. And the estimated number of words in the English language is 995,115, just 4,884 from the million-word mark.

See the Video Announcement of the Top Words of 2007

The analysis was completed using GLM’s Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), the proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet. The words are tracked in relation to frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and velocity. GLM’s global network of language observers have nominated English-language words throughout the year from the world over. “The idea of planetary peril and impending climatic doom resonated throughout our linguistic analysis, with the various words and phrases garnering hundreds of millions of citations; in the end this narrowly outdistanced the word ’surge’ that also had a disproportionate impact upon 2007’s linguistic landscape.” said Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor. For 2007 these words were culled from throughout the English-speaking world which now numbers some 1.35 billion speakers and and now includes such diverse cultures as China, the Philippines, and India.

Why a ‘Green’ Word was Chosen as WOTY

The Top Ten Words of 2007

  1. Hybrid – Actually Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV). Chosen to represent all things green from biodiesel to wearing clothes made of soy, to global warming to living with a zero-carbon footprint.
  2. Surge - The controversial political and military strategy of winning the war in Iraq.
  3. Bubble – As in housing bubble, bursting. Also, Credit crunch.

[Read More.]

Most Understood Word on the Planet: O.K.
Popularized by US President (1837 -1841) Martin Van Buren’s nickname, Old Kinderhook, from his birthplace in New York State. His re-election slogan was ‘Martin Van Buren is O.K’.

Recent Headlines

 

Other Language Stats: Number, Top Ten, On the Internet, by Country, etc.

 

 

 

Posted in GLM | No Comments »

Recent Entries

Recent Comments

Social Network