The Global Language Monitor, the leading Global English portal, has launched the GLM Institute. The GLM Institute provides a ready means for professionals worldwide to master the essentials of Global English, and to have their efforts certified. And no knowledge of English is more important that the ability to communicate through the written word. This is formally known as ‘expository writing’ or more simply, ’exposition’.
Many global professionals have picked up a basic knowledge of English through the Internet, Hollywood movies and music. However, it is a wholly differing skill to communicate complex thoughts and ideas through the written word. Lacking this essential skill can prove to be a subtle yet very real barrier to advancement in their education and/or careers.
According to Harvard Business School, those ‘… skilled in management, leadership, & analytical reasoning are in high demand by companies across industries’ and will remain so for the remainder of the decade, and beyond. And no skill is more strategic to enhancing career prospects than the ability to communicate strategic thinking skills through the adept use of Global English, or even gaining a working knowledge of the world’s first truly global language. This is the skillset that the Global Language Monitor Institute will provide you in the Essentials of Global English Certificate program.
Developed over forty years, variations of this program have been taught at Fortune 500 companies. colleges and universities, and financial institutions, among others. Portions of this program were developed at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, just outside of Boston.
Six certificates will be available beginning May 2, 2023.
Students can immediately register for the individual courses and will receive a 20% discount for any and all certificates they purchase with their original registration.
The Essentials of Global English program consists of five individual certificates and a final Capstone indicating mastery of the subject.
Initial course offerings from the Global Language Monitor Institute follow.
Essentials of Global English (CC23-1116)
— Why English (and not Mandarin, Spanish, or Arabic)? — Origin of the Language, a five-thousand year journey — Rise to Global Pre-eminence — Importance to your education and career
Mastering the Million English Words (CC23-1117)
— An Ever-expanding Verbal Universe — The Key Core Vocabulary — Dead Languages Are Not Necessarily Dead — ‘Sight’ Words — Commonly confused Words — Marks of distinction
Fundamentals of Global Business Communications (CC23-1118)
— Excellence in use of English propels global acceptance of new products and services — Clear Thinking is key to Excellence in Communications — Pitfalls to Avoid at All Costs
Technical and Scientific Communications (CC23-1119)
— The Communication Model — Five Rules to Remember — Lessons from the Ancients, Albert Einstein, and others
Approaching the Marketplace of Ideas (Marketing Communications) (CC23-1120)
— Launching New Products — Attacking New Markets — Why Most Start-ups Fail — Understanding your Marketplace — Lessons from History
Global English Capstone (CC23-1121)
— The culmination of the program signifying mastery of the subject. The program involves reviewing, the entire field with added insight and preparation for further study.
— The Global English Capstone Certificate is awarded after completing the other modules in the Essentials of GlobalEnglish program. (The two required courses, CC23-1116 and CC23-1117 and the three elective courses, CC23-1118, CC23-1119, CC23-1120).
All courses are self-paced and must be completed within the allotted timeframe. Courses are priced individually, with significant discounts applied to ‘bundles’ of three or more offerings. (Bundles must be paid for at initial registration.)
Students receive a Certificate of Completion or Certificate of Achievement along with a badge that can be readily added to one’s resumé or CV. Additionally. they can receive the Honor’s marks or ‘With Distinction or ‘With Highest Distinction’ for maintaining appropriate Honors-level grades.
The Global Language Monitor was founded in Silicon Valley in 2003 by Paul JJ Payack on the premise that new technologies were needed to understand the world of Big Data and “…to examine the totality of Global English with the tools now available to better understand the underlying trends that shape our words and, hence, our world. Our goal remains to detect the small changes in the language that often presage titanic shifts in the way humans communicate”.
Global Language Monitor’s official estimate of the number of words in the English language as of November 11, 2022 is:
1,074,372.4
Official Estimate of the Number of English Words Created Every Day
14.7 words Per Day
English has continued to churn out about 14.7 neologisms per day — about 5366 words a year. However not all words are considered worthy to be added to the most authoritative and respected English-language dictionaries, the unabridged and various editions of: the Oxford English Dictionary (UK), Merriam Websters (US), American Heritage (US), Collins (UK), and Macquarie (AUS).
Global Language Monitor began recording the Top Words of the year in 2000 to document the history of the 21st Century through the English language, the world’s first truly global language. The words are culled throughout the English-speaking world, which as of January 2021 ranks more than 3.18 billion speakers.
Global Language Monitor employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing areal-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time.
NarrativeTracker analyzes the internet, blogosphere, and the top 300,000 print and electronic global media as well as new social media sources as they emerge. In addition, the Global Language Monitor also tracks the Top Words, Phrases, and Names of the 21st Century.
About Global Language Monitor
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents, analyzes, and tracks trends in Global English, the world’s first truly global language The company is known for its Word of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, and media analytics. For more information, visit Languagemonitor.com.
The Top Words, Phrases, and Names of the 21st century follow.
2018:
Top Words: No. 1 Truth, No. 2 Narrative, No. 3, Opioids
Top Phrases: No 1. Weinstein Effect (and #MeToo), 2. Nuclear Option (North Korean version.), 3. Deep State
Top Names: No. 1 Donald Trump, No. 2 Vladimir Putin, No. 3 Neil Gorsuch
2017:
Top Words: No. 1 Truth, No. 2 Narrative, No. 3, Opioids
Top Phrases: No 1. Weinstein Effect (and #MeToo), 2. Nuclear Option (North Korean version.), 3. Deep State
Top Names: No. 1 Donald Trump, No. 2 Vladimir Putin, No. 3 Neil Gorsuch
2016:
Top Words: No. 1 A meme — Omran Daqneesh in Aleppo) No. 2 Refugee
Top Phrases: No. 1 Make America Great Again No. 2 When they go low, we go high No. 3 The Electoral College
Top Names: No. 1 Donald Trump, No. 2 Vladimir Putin, No. 3 Neil Gorsuch
2015:
Top Words: No. 1 Microaggression
Top Phrases: No. 1 Migrant Crisis
Top Names: No. 1 Donald J. Trump
2014:
Top Words: No. 1 The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love), No. 2 Hashtag, No. 3 Vape
Top Phrases: No. 1 Hands Up, Don’t Shoot; No. 2 Cosmic Inflation, No. 3 Global Warming
Top Names: No. 1 Ebola, No. 2 Pope Francis, No. 3 World War I
2013:
Top Words: No. 1 ’404’, No.2 Fail, No.3 Hashtag
Top Phrases: No. 1 Toxic Politics, No. 2 Federal Shutdown, No.3 Global Warming/Climate Change
Top Names: No. 1. Pope Francis, No. 2 ObamaCare, No.3 NSA
2012:
Top Words: No. 1 Apocalypse/Armageddon, No.2 Deficit, No. 3 Olympiad
Top Phrases: No. 1 Gangnam Style, No. 2 Climate Change/Global Warming, No. 3 Fiscal Cliff
Top Names: No. 1 Newtown and Malala Yousafzai, No. 3 Xi Jinping
2011:
Top Words: No. 1 Occupy, No. 2 Fracking, No.3 Drone
Top Phrases: No. 1 Arab Spring, No. 2 Royal Wedding, No.3 Anger and Rage
Top Names: No. 1 Steve Jobs, No. 2 Osama bin-laden and Seal Team Six, No. 3 Fukushima
2010:
Top Words: No. 1 Spillcam, No. 2 Vuvuzela, No. 3 The Narrative
Top Phrases: No. 1 Anger and Rage, No. 2 Climate Change, No. 3 The Great Recession
Top Names: No. 1 Hu Jintao, paramount leader of China, No. 2 iPad, No. 3 Barack Obama
2009:
Top Words: No. 1 Twitter, No. 2 Obama-, No. 3 H1N1
Top Phrases: No. 1 King of Pop, No. 2 Obama-mania, No. 3 Climate Change
Top Names: No. 1 Obama, No. 2 Michael Jackson, No. 3 Mobama
2008:
Top Words: No. 1 Change, No. 2 Bailout, No. 3 Obama-mania
Top Phrases: No. 1 Financial Tsunami, No. 2 Global Warming, No. 3 “Yes, We Can!”
Top Names: No. 1 Barack Obama, No. 2 George W. Bush, No.3 Michael Phelps
2007:
Top Words: No. 1 Hybrid (representing all things green), No. 2: Surge
Top Phrase: Climate Change
Top Name: Al Gore
2006:
Top Word: Sustainable
Top Phrase: Stay the Course
Top Name: Dafur
2005:
Top Words: No. 1, Refugee No. 2: Tsunami No. 3: Katrina
Top Phrase: Outside the Mainstream
Top Name: (acts of ) God
2004:
Top Word: Incivility (for inCivil War)
Top Phrase: Red States/Blue States No. 2: Rush to War
Top Name: Dubya/Rove
2003:
Top Word: Embedded
Top Phrase: Shock and Awe, No. 2: Rush to War
Top Name: Saddam Hussein, No. 2 Dubya
2002:
Top Word: Misunderestimate
Top Phrase: Threat Fatigue
Top Name: W (Dubya)
2001:
Top Word: Ground Zero
Top Phrase: ‘Lets Roll’
Top Name: The Heros
2000:
Top Word: Chad
Top Phrase: Dot.com
Top Name: W (Dubya)
About the Global Language Monitor
In 2003, The Global Language Monitor (GLM) was founded in Silicon Valley by Paul J.J. Payack on the understanding that new technologies and techniques were necessary for truly understanding the world of Big Data, as it is now known.
Today, from its home in Austin, Texas GLM provides a number of innovative products and services that utilize its ‘algorithmic services’ to help worldwide customers protect, defend and nurture their branded products and entities. Products include ‘brand audits’ to assess the current status, establish baselines, and competitive benchmarks for current intellectual assets and brands, and to defend products against ambush marketing.
These services are currently provided to the Fortune 500, the Higher Education market, high technology firms, the worldwide print, and electronic media, as well as the global fashion industry, among others.
For More Information, go to LanguageMonitor.com or call 1.737.215.7750 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com.
Words of the Pandemic Again Dominate the only list for English Worldwide.
AUSTIN, TX, UNITEDSTATES, November 11 - 13, 2022 — For the third consecutive year, words of the pandemic dominate the conversation in Global English,
According to Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor:
Paul JJ Payack, Founder
In the year 2022; we observed three major trends in the development of the English language: 1) The persistence of Pandemic-related words for the third year in a row, 2) the acceleration of the spread of the language ever wider into all corners of the planet, and 3) Global English insinuating itself ever more deeply into the language of academia, science, technology, politics, commerce, transportation, and entertainment.
Top Words of Global English for 2022 by The Global Language Monitor follow.
Rank / Word or Phrase / Comments.
1. Denier — Concept encompasses ‘Hater,’ ‘Cancel Culture,’ and the ‘Deniers’ of an ever-expanding list of facts, fallacies, and beliefs.
2. Covid — Covid, one of the Top Words in Global English, again
3. Right to Life — Pro-life position (Compare No. 19)
4. Ukraine — Top non-Pandemic word in 2022
5. Zero — In Retail, ‘zero’ used to mean ‘nothing’, but now embodies ‘goodness,’ ‘health,’ and ‘beauty’.
6. Price of gas/petrol — Gasoline prices up 49% year over year.
7. Vaccine — No. 2 word of the Pandemic
8. Variant — Variant after variant after variant
9. Climate change — One of the top phrases of the CENTURY thus far
10. Pandemic — Pandemics tend to last for a number of years (or decades)
11. Supply Chain — Supply chains take decades to set up but can quickly crumble
12. Booster Dose — Boosted, double boosted, triple boosted …
13. Diesel — Warning: Civilization does not run on gasoline; it runs on diesel
14. Cancel Culture — Forced to quit by intense social media pressure
15. Inflation Definition — Too much money chasing too few goods
16. Global Warming — Again, one of the top ten words of the century
17. Democracy — 600% stronger than ‘Democracy at Risk’
18. Omicron — Coronavirus Omicron variant; the first of many to come
19. Abortion Rights — A relatively modest position on the list (No. 3, ‘Right to life’ is 400% stronger)
20. Donald Trump — After years of sparing Joe and the Donald still neck-and-neck
21. Joe Biden — After years of sparing the Donald and Joe are still neck and neck
22. Nuclear Weapons — War in Ukraine once again brings issue to the forefront
23. Xi Jinping — Methodically executing China’s long-term policy agenda
24. Metaverse — Where cyberspace and reality collide
25. Civil War — GLM’s been tracking the inCivil War since 2003; predicts re-partition of the US later in the 21st century
26. Vladimir Putin — Under intense pressure to right the ship
27. Pumpkin Spice — Many are surprised to learn, has no pumpkin in it
28. Hater — Key component of hater, denier, Cancel Culture trichotomy
29. Democracy at risk — For the uninformed: Democracy has been at risk since Athens in 404 B.C.
30. Fungible (NFT) — The Letter F in Non-fungible Tokens
31. Regina Elisabetta II — Queen Elisabeth II
32. West Texas Crude — The benchmark price in the world’s most productive Oil Patch
33. Strategic petrol reserve — Set up for wartime emergencies; rapidly being depleted in effort to cut price at the pump
34. Royal Glyph — Perhaps the world’s first emoji; the official signature of the British Crown
35. Shrinkflation — Package gets smaller while the price remains the same; Hershey’s been doing this for 100 years
36. Neopronouns* — Dozens of new pronouns created to engender gender ‘fluidity’
37. Lockdown — Lockdown can feel like being locked up
Creative Commons CC 2022 by the Global Language Monitor
*Here is a list of gender-neutral pronouns:He/She — Zie, Sie, Ey, Ve, Tey, E
Him/Her — Zim, Sie, Em, Ver, Ter, Em
His/Her — Zir, Hir, Eir, Vis, Tem, Eir
His/Hers — Zis, Hirs, Eirs, Vers, Ters, Eirs
Himself/Herself — Zieself, Hirself, Eirself, Verself, Terself, Emself6.Global Language Monitor began recording the Top Words of the year in 2000 to document the history of the 21st Century through the English language, the world’s first truly global language. The words are culled throughout the English-speaking world, which as of January 2023 stand at 3.7 billion people.Official Estimate of the Number of Words in Global English
Global Language Monitor’s official estimate of the number of words in the English language as of November 11, 2022 is:
1,074,372.4
Official Estimate of the Number of English Words Created Every Day
14.7 words Per Day-13
English has continued to churn out about 14.7 neologisms per day — about 5366 words a year. However not all words are considered worthy to be added to the most authoritative and respected English-language dictionaries, the unabridged and various editions of: the Oxford English Dictionary (UK), Merriam Websters (US), American Heritage (US), Collins (UK), and Macquarie (AUS).
Global Language Monitor began recording the Top Words of the year in 2000 to document the history of the 21st Century through the English language, the world’s first truly global language. The words are culled throughout the English-speaking world, which as of January 2021 ranks more than 3.18 billion speakers.
Global Language Monitor employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing areal-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time.nNarrativeTracker analyzes the internet, blogosphere, and the top 300,000 print and electronic global media as well as new social media sources as they emerge. In addition, the Global Language Monitor also tracks the Top Words, Phrases, and Names of the 21st Century.
About Global Language Monitor
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents, analyzes, and tracks trends in Global English, the world’s first truly global language The company is known for its Word of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, and media analytics. For more information, visit Languagemonitor.com.
Austin, TEXAS, December 30 - January 4. The Global Language Monitor has named “the Numerals” the Top Words of the Year for 2021 for Global English.
The Covid-19 Pandemic has dominated the news in 2021 as it had in 2020. However, It’s the numbers that accompany every story, in any language, at any time, in any medium that lift the numerals to the lofty position of Word of the Year (#WOTY).
There are, literally, hundreds of billions of permutations of the basic ten numerals And no mention of Covid-19 is complete without a full run-down of the relevant stats. For example, this week the media reported that “record number of U.S.COVID-19 infections, with 441,278 new cases, surpassing the previous high of about 290,000 cases reported earlier in Dec., nearly surpassing the previous daily record of 294,015 set before vaccines were widely available last January”.
The seven-day moving average is now more than 240,000 cases a day.
The Heart emoji was the Top Word of 2014 the first time a symbol took the honor, though the hashtag # also made the 2014 list.
The Top Words of the Year 2021 for Global English follow.
The Numerals (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0) – Every time Covid (or one of its variants) is mentioned, it is surrounded by three to five numbers. Covid-19 currently has about 4 billion citations on Google, which are accompanied by tens of billions of supporting numbers.
Covid-19 – Word of the Year in 2020, could be word of the year in 2022. perhaps for the decade? Perhaps the 21st century?
Wokeness – The state of being awakened to the social distresses found amongst us. Though this appears to occur for every generation it is used by politicians as a never-before-witnessed phenomenon. Favored by Progressives.
Variant – The longer the coronavirus persists, the more variations will emerge. Remember the great plague in London in 1666? It was merely a replay of the bubonic plague of the mid-1300s. And the Hong Kong Flu? A replay of the Spanish Flu of the World War 1 era.
The Pronouns – People have been attempting to re-define their language for their own political purposes, at least since the French Revolution. The Marxists expanded the practice, right comrade? The practice increased during the Sexual Revolution (Ms., etc.) and continues to grow during the recent ‘racial reckoning. And today, the Woke among us are attempting to use personal “woke pronouns” to help define their sexual orientation (and yours).
“Flatten the Curve.” – Don’t hear too many discussing ‘Flattening the Curve” nowadays.
Supply Chain – You knew the global economy was linked in ways never before imagined. Now you KNOW it.
Cancel Culture – A movement to negate whatever political speech you find inconvenient. Particularly strong on college campuses.
Latinx – Gender-neutral version for people of Hispanic heritage, formerly Latino ad Latina. I am planning to refer to myself henceforward as HUMANX.
D Variant – Another Covid-19 variant
Omicrom – Yet another Covid variant. This can go on for decades (see above).
Coronavirus – Human coronavirus was first identified in the mid-1960s. Unfortunately, Covid-19 will be far from the last encounter.
Joe Biden – 46th and current President of the United States. Biden has about one half the number of citations as his predecessor.
Donald Trump – 45th president of the United States. Trump has twice as many current citations as his successor, Joe Biden.
Tokyo Olympics – The 2021, nee 2020 Olympics were a modest disappointment, nevertheless a major achievement to have taken place in the midst of a raging worldwide pandemic
Lockdown – At the end of the various national lockdowns; many felt like they had been locked up.
WHO – The World Health Organization, whose charter requires it to help attain “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health”.
Global Warming – ‘Climate Change’ and/or ‘Global Warming’ have ranked near the top of this list for the entire century, thus far.
January 6 Event at the U.S. Capitol Building, according to Global Citations 1) Attack, 2) Uprising, 3} Insurrection.
Vaccine – Operation Warp Speed has begot a number of vaccines with others, no doubt, to follow.
Afghanistan – The fall and unseemly retreat from Afghanistan cast a pall over an already somber year.
Global Language Monitor began recording the Top Words of the Year in 2000 to document the history of the 21st Century through the English language, the world’s first truly global language. The words are culled throughout the English-speaking world, which as of January 2021 ranks more than 3.18 billion speakers. Global Language Monitor employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global internet and social media analysis.
NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the internet, blogosphere, and the top 300,000 print and electronic global media as well as new social media sources as they emerge.
In addition, the Global Language Monitor has also tracked the Top Words, Phrases and Names of the 21st Century.
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. The company is known for its Word of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, and media analytics. For more information, visit Languagemonitor.com.
Payack is a high-tech executive and Paris Review poet and Larosa is an award-winning filmmaker, Screenwriter, and Director
AUSTIN, TX, UNITEDSTATES, October 21, 2021, The world is well aware of Austin’s pre-eminence as a political, educational, and high-tech center with an art scene centered on ‘the live music capital of the world’ vibe. However, when Paul JJ Payack and Francois Larosa found themselves living in the same far northwest Austin neighborhood, a creative partnership ensued. The collaboration combined Larosa’s award-winning filmmaking (and script-writing) talents with Payack’s metafictions and pioneering ‘steam punk’ collages.
Children of the Mind Has Won the MLMTV 2022 Excellence in Fiction Award to be Presented in Miami on January 19,
When Payack moved his company, the Global Language Monitor, to Austin in 2008, the Austin Statesman headlined, “Finally, Something Good Comes from California”. Unknown to Payack, at the same time, Larosa, a native Texan, moved to Austin where he launched his film production company, Starfield Productions. After their initial discussions, they soon decided to adapt one of Payack’s earlier metafictions, the Children of the Mind novella into a gripping 1960s’-era psychological thriller involving mind control, the CIA, and US Amy secret labs.
Children of the Mind, as a creative endeavor, spans some forty years, encompassing several genres on its journey to its creation.”
— Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM.
Payack and Larosa have reshaped the original tale from one in which the imagination is outlawed and people need a license to dream into a more contemporary rendering involving government Mind Control research labs in the early 60s/70s to the present day. This suspenseful novella adds in Larosa’s trademark psychological thriller aspect, the hallmark of Larosa’s writing. The book starts in 1968 as a kid watching a TV Series called The Time Tunnel, with him wondering, “How did they think of that, and the technology?” Later on, he discovers that his own Government was really experimenting with that very technology AND also involving children,
Both editions are available from wherever books are sold. Amazon offers both original (paperback) and updated (ebook) versions:
This is Larosa’s first foray into science fiction. Payack has published his metafiction worldwide for some forty years.
Austin, TEXAS. September 27, 2021 — On 9/11/2021. the Global Language Monitor, released a free, downloadable edition of Paul JJ Payack’s historic “Dispatch from the Front Lines” collage narrative series.
Payack created the series in the immediate aftermath of the Bush Administrations’ debriefing in Washington, DC just days after the 9/11 attacks. Payack’s creation commemorates the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a third target, presumably the White House or the US Capitol Building, which was thwarted by the passenger uprising on Flight 93.
Such was the overwhelming response to the offer, the Global Language Monitor has announced that it will continue to encourage free downloads of the document as a public, historical, service. Also, signed, numbered editions are now available for a nominal fee. And NFTs of the original, historic documents, individual collages will be made available in the coming months.
Kate Usurps London Olympics
British Vogue: New York Is The World’s Top Fashion Capital
Back Story to the Re-federated US (2076)
Paris is the Reigning Top Global
Fashion Capital
Background: Immediately after Payack and his wife Millie attended a closed-door, invitation-only, private briefing by the George W. Bush Administration. Payack sought to encapsulate all the thoughts, hopes and fears encapsulated in that particular moment,
“Dispatch From the Front Lines” was created by Payack, working deep into the night on October 27th, 2001. That evening the Payacks were escorted through hermetically sealed tunnels from specifically outfitted, bomb-proof and poison gas-resistant vehicles to the scene of the debriefing and then to their secure accommodations.
Payack had prepared for this moment by assembling the tools he would need to create the collage narrative, the night before in Danville, California. In D.C., he proceeded to create the collage narrative under the watchful eye of a waxing Autumn Moon overlooking the White House and the piercing, haunting vision of the Washington obelisk in the crisp autumn air.
Some of These Changes Have Only Become More Profound Over the Years
Austin, Texas, USA. September 11, 2021. (Updated) The Global Language Monitor today released an updated analysis of how the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and the pending targets in Washington, D.C., widely suspected to be the White House or the Capitol Building, have changed the way Americans speak in terms of vernacular, word choice and tone.
Updating an earlier analysis completed on the Fifth Anniversary of the attacks, it is a continued and historic change in an ‘unCivil War‘ in terms of the vitriolic exchange currently witnessed on the American Political scene. According to Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM (www.LanguageMonitor.com), these are a few of the ways where the events of 9/11 have impacted the way Americans speak.
1. 9/11 — The first case is the use of 9/11, itself, as a shorthand for the 2001 terrorist attacks. Using various web metrics, 9/11 outpaces any other name, including the spelled out ‘September 11th” by 7:1 margin. This designation in itself it quite interesting. It is true that Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed the Pearl Harbor attack as “December 7th, 1941 as a day which will live in infamy”. But there were no “12/7” rallying cries thereafter. Neither were the dates immortalized of the original battles of the Korean War, the Gulf of Tonkin Incident which preceded the major escalation of the Vietnam War, The First Gulf War, The Afganistan siege, or even the recent Iraqi Invasion. Only the 7/7 attacks on the London Subway system are recorded in common memory by their date (and primarily in the UK in general, and London in particular).
2. Ground Zero — The name Ground Zero evokes a sacred place, where the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers once stood. It is also revered as a burial ground since thousands of bodies literally vaporized in the ensuing collapse with no remains found whatsoever. Almost universally, it is capitalized as any other proper name, with a few exceptions, most notably the New York Times. Even recently, The Times insisted on referring to Ground Zero in the lower case, calling it ‘the area known as ground zero’ (Sic). Names are officially bestowed in a number of ways, most often by bureaucratic committees following arcane sets of rules, answering to few. In this case, we kindly request those bureaucrats to follow the lead of hundreds of millions around the world who have formally bestowed upon that special place, the formal name of Ground Zero.
3. Hero — In mythology, heroes were men and women often of divine ancestry endowed with the gifts of courage and strength. In reality, everyday heroes of the late 20th and early 21st centuries were sports figures (‘Be like Mike’ and ‘Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio’), comic book and cartoon characters ala Superman and Spiderman, and all too frequently ‘anti-heroes’ known for the colossal damage they might inflict upon a helpless (and often hapless) world. Into this tableaux, came the heroes of 9/11, very real men and women, rushing into and up the Towers as everyone else was rushing down and out; rushing the cockpit of Flight 93, with knives and forks and steaming hot coffee, forcing the startled highjackers to abandon their plans of crashing into the Capitol or White House rather than the previously unheralded soil of Shanksville, PA; and the men and women who quietly stood their posts at the Pentagon, just doing their duty, not knowing if they would be subjected to another horrific, and more deadly, attack at any moment. In the post-9/11 world, the term has now come to apply to any who place their lives in danger to foster the public good, especially ‘first-responders’ such as: firefighters, EMTs, and police, who quietly place their lives on the line every day.
4. -stan — The suffix in Persian and related languages that means, literally, ‘land of,’ hence, Afghanistan or Land of the Afghans, or Kurdistan (or Kurdish Territories), or even this relatively new moniker: Londonistan. Talibanistan, referring to Afganistan and the ‘tribal lands’ in Pakistan in the New York Times Sunday Magazine is the latest instantiation.
5. The unCivil War — Since 9/11 after a very short reprieve, the political discourse of American politics has, arguably, descended to its lowest level since the Civil-War era when Lincoln was typically depicted as a know-nothing, Bible-spouting Baboon. Even speech of the Watergate era was spared the hyperbole commonly heard today, as respect for the institution of the presidency remained high.
Today, political opponents are routinely called ‘liars,’ are typically compared to Hitler, Nazis and Fascists; are accused of purposely allowing New Orleans’ inundation in order to destroy disenfranchised elements of our population, and so on. It is very difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of this reaction. It has been suggested that in the face of a nearly invisible, constantly morphing, enemy, we have turned the attack inward, upon ourselves, and our institutions.
The UK is only the sixth-largest country in which English is a common language
English has shrugged off many challengers to become the world’s leading language but the creative contribution of “British English” speakers to the global vocabulary is fading fast, eclipsed by linguistic innovators in technology, international call centres, and film franchises, according to data analysis to be published next week.
The UK still punches above its demographic weight in colourful areas such as politics, royalty, and sex, says research from the Global Language Monitor (GLM), which advises corporations on linguistic shifts.
British words now found around the world include 53X, for sex; Tope, for totally dope or extremely good; and, inevitably, Brexit and Megxit.
But the percentage of new British words adding to the total mass of English-derived words employed around the world has been falling since Queen Victoria’s reign.
The contribution is set to fall further, from 10 percent today to 3 percent by 2060, predicts the report, The Rise and Fall of England as a Word Generator.
England Once Accounted for a Majority of English-language Neologisms.
New Research Shows that the Number of New Words Generated has Fallen to Fewer Than 10% of the Total
Excerpt from the Report
AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITEDSTATES, August 16, 2021 — The Sun might have set on the British Empire but the language continues to expand its global dominance though with fewer contributions from the ‘Sceptre’d Isle’. This is according to a new study to be released later this fall, by the Global Language Monitor.
English has been hailed as the first truly global language inserting itself into nearly every nook and cranny of modern life, thanks to its conquest of science, technology, education, film, fashion, and communications.
According to GLM, a new word is created every 98 minutes, about 14.7 words a day or 5400 words a year. As of today, GLM’s estimated number of words number is 1,066,095.9 words. Google’s Ngram word count of millions of English-language books also lists a similar number of words. According to a study with Harvard University, the count was 1,022,000 English-language words in 2010, within 1.6% of GLM’s estimate at the time. The study estimated about 8,000 neologisms/year joining the language, while GLM’s analysis put the number at 5400. Nevertheless, it is a large and growing language.
English über alles?
One problem with the UK maintaining proper ownership (and dominance) of the language it begot) is that it is becoming a smaller and smaller portion of the English-speaking world.
As the number of English Words has grown, so has the number of nations that have a large number of English-language speakers, each generating unique neologisms to suit their particular needs.
Today, tens of thousands of English-language neologisms bubble up from all corners of the planet each year, but only about 5,000 to 8,000 have enough staying power to make into any of the standard dictionaries, e.g., the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), Collins, Macmillan, Webster’s Unabridged, American Heritage Dictionary, Macquarie Dictionary, among others.
The Global Language Monitor has three distinct criteria that each new word must meet to be included in the English-language corpus, which GLM refers to as ‘depth’ and ‘breadth’.
The word must appear in a minimum of 25,000 citations in a variety of media (Internet, books, newspapers, research, television, radio)
The word must appear in geographies dispersed across the globe
The word must appear in differing cultural segments, industries, and/or demographic groups
According to the latest available statistics, the UK now stands in sixth place on the list of English-speaking countries, as shown below. Nevertheless, the list below does raise some interesting questions, for example, the UK is No.6? The U.S., of course, reigns in the top spot, and perhaps, India is in a well-deserved second place, but Pakistan, Nigeria, and the Philippines at Nos. 3-5?
List of Countries by Number of English Speakers
[Note: due to variations in statistical methods, some totals can appear slightly out of sequence.]
English-Speaking Nations By Number of English Speakers
If you are looking at this list from the perspective of a champion of the former British Empire, you can think about this in two ways:
Well done good and faithful servant, or
Good riddance, fare they well, the Sun has indeed set upon thee ….
Tokyo 2020 Top Partners Vs. Ambushers Arranged Side-by-Side
Tokyo 2020 Olympics Top Partners and Ambushers
Global Language Monitor
The Tokyo Olympics have encountered a host of problems, most of them outside their control. They certainly do not want to be the first Olympics where the Ambushers actually outscored the IOC.”
— Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM.
AUSTIN, TEXAS, UNITEDSTATES, August 9, 2021 — To the Global Marketing community, the ultimate Olympic race is that between the Olympic Top Partners The Global Language Monitor (GLM) has released the Official Ambush Marketing Rankings for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics found that the Top Olympic Partners and their ambushers are virtually tied according to their Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) scores. At stake is pride and, of course, tens of billions of dollars in advertising and marketing expenditures that will be allotted for the next several years to the winners.
For comparison purposes, GLM created the Economic Value Unit (EVU) that estimates in dollar terms the size of the value leak for each of the Top Partners during the current quadrennial. In like manner, it estimates the value gained by the NAMs or Ambush Marketers.
“This is the closest race since GLM has been tracking the numbers since the Beijing Games in 2008”, said Paul JJ Payack.. “The Tokyo Olympics have encountered a host of problems, most of them outside of their control. However, they certainly do not want to be the first Olympics where the Ambushers actually outscored the IOC.”
According to the latest numbers, the mean score for The Top Olympic Partners was 71.43 BAI against a 69.94 BAI for the Non-Affiliated Marketers (NAMs). The final numbers will be announced on Saturday, August 14th.
The Top Olympic Partners for Tokyo 2020 follow:
Aliba
Airbnb.
Atos.
Bridgestone.
Coca-Cola.
Dow.
General Electric.
Intel.
Panasonic.
Procter & Gamble.
Samsung Electronics.
Swatch Group (Omega, Tissot).
Toyota
Visa
The Global Language Monitor’s (GLM) Brand Affiliation Index (BAI), is a proprietary, longitudinal study that analyzes the global association between (and among) individual brands and their competitors or, in this case, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The Global Language Monitor measured several dozen factors in the study, closely examining all marketing movements extending from London 2012 to Tokyo 2020. GLM has been tracking the Olympics in this manner since the Beijing Summer Games (2008).
Though official numbers are never released, each Top Partner is believed to pays some 100 million USD to the IOC for the privilege. GLM has found that the actual number is closer to 1,000,000,000 USD for each Olympiad, fully loaded. This includes indirect costs associated with the sponsorship such as an apparently endless number of activities, contests, promotional items, and events.
Earlier in 2020 GLM found that the Tokyo 2020 Games had themselves been ambushed by the coronavirus with a remarkable 92.8% correlation to the ongoing Pandemic.
Over the years we’ve met some unlikely ambushers from cartoon characters (Beijing 2008, Kung-fu Panda) to world leaders on the brink of nuclear war (PyeongChang 2018, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump) but never did we imagine being ambushed by a raging pandemic,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst for the Global Language Monitor.
The study pulls data from hundreds of millions of data points from across the internet and the top 380,000 print, electronic news media outlets, and social networking sites, analyzing sentiment, context, and several other factors to determine which Olympic Top Partners are most closely associated with the Olympic Games — and which brands are being closely associated with the coronavirus pandemic or both. The complete findings are published in the Tokyo 2020 Ambush Marketing Report, which is now available for order.
Going a step further, the GLM study also includes an analysis on how closely brands and a number of their competitors are being affected by the coronavirus, which has been a global concern in the lead-up to the Tokyo Games. “We actually found a remarkable correlation between the coronavirus and the Worldwide Olympic Partners,” Payack continued. “A number of the Brands (and ambushers), actually had nearly as many citations linked to the coronavirus as to the Games themselves. In a few cases, citations to the coronavirus actually exceeded those to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
Early this year, the IOC Executive Board expressed its full commitment to the Tokyo Games, scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8, reporting that all protective measures are being taken to address the coronavirus situation. Lately, the IOC banned all non-athletic visitors from the Games. This situation has steadily deteriorated.
About Global Language Monitor
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents,
analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, emphasizing the Global English language. GLM is known for its Words of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, and the Top Global Fashion Capitals, as well as major global sports events.
For more information, visit Languagemonitor.com.
Media Contact:
Paul JJ Payack
Global Language Monitor
+1 737-215-7750 PJJP@Post.Harvard.edu
This is Global Language Monitor’s Eighth Consecutive Olympic Ambush Marketing Rankings.
AUSTIN, TX, UNITEDSTATES, August 4, 2021 — The Global Language Monitor (GLM) has released the Official Ambush Marketing Rankings for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. GLM has found that the Top Olympic Partners and their ambushers are virtually tied according to their Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) scores.
The Top Olympic Partners for Tokyo 2020 follow:
Alibaba
Airbnb.
Atos.
Bridgestone.
Coca-Cola.
Dow.
General Electric.
Intel.
Panasonic.
Procter & Gamble.
Samsung Electronics.
Swatch Group (Omega, Tissot).
Toyota
Visa
GLM’s research has identified the top ambush marketers for each of the Tokyo 2020 Top Partners; many of these, of course, carry over from one Olympiad to the next.
According to the latest numbers, the mean score for The Top Olympic Partners was 71.43 BAI against 69.94 score for the Non-affiliated Marketers. This means that the Non-affiliated Marketers are reaping nearly the same economic benefit despite their lack of official association with the Olympic Games.
The first chart shows each Top Partner with ‘Non-affiliated Marketers’ (NAMs) or ambushers. The second chart shows both Partners and Ambushers in a single, combined ranking.
The Global Language Monitor’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI), is a proprietary, longitudinal study that analyzes the global association between (and among) individual brands and their competitors or, in this case, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In the study, The Global Language Monitor measured several dozen factors, closely examining all marketing movements extending from London 2012 to Tokyo 2020. GLM has been tracking the Olympic Partners since the Beijing Summer Games (2008).
“We’ve met unlikely ambushers from cartoon characters (Beijing 2008, Kung-fu Panda) to world leaders on the brink of war (PyeongChang 2018, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump) but never a raging pandemic.
— Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM.
Though official numbers are never released, each Top Partner is believed to pay some 100 million USD for the privilege. GLM has found that the actual number is closer to 1,000,000,000 USD for each Olympiad, fully loaded. This includes indirect costs associated with the sponsorship such as an apparently endless number of activities, contests, promotional items, and events.
Of course, in 2020 GLM found that the Tokyo 2020 Games had themselves been ambushed by the coronavirus with a remarkable 92.8% correlation to the ongoing Pandemic.
This is up some eight percentage points from a year ago when the Games were first postponed. This means that in GLM’s global research data, out of every 100 references to the 2020 Summer Games, more some 92 now contained a reference to the coronavirus and/or COVID-19.
For comparison purposes, GLM created the Economic Value Unit (EVU) that estimates in dollar terms the size of the value leak for each of the TOP Sponsors during the current quadrennial. In like manner, it estimates the value gained by the NAMs or Ambush Marketers.
The study pulls data from hundreds of millions of data points from across the internet and the top 380,000 print, electronic news media outlets, and social networking sites, analyzing sentiment, context and a host of other factors to determine which Worldwide Olympic Partners are most closely associated with the Olympic Games, and which brands are being closely associated with the coronavirus pandemic or both. The findings are published in the Tokyo 2020 Ambush Marketing Report, which is now available for order. (See below.)
Going a step further, the GLM study also includes an analysis on how closely brands and a number of their ‘ambush’ competitors are being affected by the coronavirus, which has been a global concern in the lead up to the Tokyo Games.
“We actually found a remarkable correlation between the coronavirus and the Worldwide Olympic Partners,” Payack continued. “A number of the Brands (and ambushers), actually had nearly as many citations linked to the coronavirus as to the Games themselves. In a few cases, citations to the coronavirus actually exceeded those to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
Early this year, the IOC Executive Board expressed its full commitment to the Tokyo Games, scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8, reporting that all protective measures are being taken to address the coronavirus situation. Lately, they banned all non-athletic visitors from the Games. This situation has steadily deteriorated.
About Global Language Monitor
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. The company is known for its Words of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, and media analytics, and the Top Global Fashion Capitals.
The Global Language Monitor Has Released the Official Ambush Marketing Rankings for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics
This is Global Language Monitor’s Eighth Consecutive Olympic Ambush Marketing Rankings.
AUSTIN, TX, UNITEDSTATES, August 4, 2021 — The Global Language Monitor (GLM) has released the Official Ambush Marketing Rankings for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. GLM has found that the Top Olympic Partners and their ambushers are virtually tied according to their Brand Affiliation Index (BAI) scores.
The Top Olympic Partners for Tokyo 2020 follow:
Aliba
Airbnb.
Atos.
Bridgestone.
Coca-Cola.
Dow.
General Electric.
Intel.
Panasonic.
Procter & Gamble.
Samsung Electronics.
Swatch Group (Omega, Tissot).
Toyota &
Visa
GLM’s research has identified the top ambush marketers for each of the Tokyo 2020 Top Partners; many of these, of course, carry over from one Olympiad to the next.
According to the latest numbers, the mean score for The Top Olympic Partners was 71.43 BAI against 69.94 score for the Non-affiliated Marketers. This means that the Non-affiliated Marketers are reaping nearly the same economic benefit despite their lack of official association with the Olympic Games.
The first chart shows each Top Partner with ‘Non-affiliated Marketers’ (NAMs) or ambushers. The second chart shows both Partners and Ambushers in a single, combined ranking.
The Global Language Monitor’s Brand Affiliation Index (BAI), is a proprietary, longitudinal study that analyzes the global association between (and among) individual brands and their competitors or, in this case, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. In the study, The Global Language Monitor measured several dozen factors, closely examining all marketing movements extending from London 2012 to Tokyo 2020. GLM has been tracking the Olympic Partners since the Beijing Summer Games (2008).
“We’ve met unlikely ambushers from cartoon characters (Beijing 2008, Kung-fu Panda) to world leaders on the brink of war (PyeongChang 2018, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump) but never a raging pandemic”, said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM.
Though official numbers are never released, each Top Partner is believed to pay some 100 million USD for the privilege. GLM has found that the actual number is closer to 1,000,000,000 USD for each Olympiad, fully loaded. This includes indirect costs associated with the sponsorship such as an apparently endless number of activities, contests, promotional items, and events.
Of course, in 2020 GLM found that the Tokyo 2020 Games had themselves been ambushed by the coronavirus with a remarkable 92.8% correlation to the ongoing Pandemic.
This is up some eight percentage points from a year ago when the Games were first postponed. This means that in GLM’s global research data, out of every 100 references to the 2020 Summer Games, more some 92 now contained a reference to the coronavirus and/or COVID-19.
For comparison purposes, GLM created the Economic Value Unit (EVU) that estimates in dollar terms the size of the value leak for each of the TOP Sponsors during the current quadrennial. In like manner, it estimates the value gained by the NAMs or Ambush Marketers.
The study pulls data from hundreds of millions of data points from across the internet and the top 380,000 print, electronic news media outlets, and social networking sites, analyzing sentiment, context and a host of other factors to determine which Worldwide Olympic Partners are most closely associated with the Olympic Games, and which brands are being closely associated with the coronavirus pandemic or both. The findings are published in the Tokyo 2020 Ambush Marketing Report, which is now available for order. (See below.)
Going a step further, the GLM study also includes an analysis on how closely brands and a number of their ‘ambush’ competitors are being affected by the coronavirus, which has been a global concern in the lead up to the Tokyo Games.
“We actually found a remarkable correlation between the coronavirus and the Worldwide Olympic Partners,” Payack continued. “A number of the Brands (and ambushers), actually had nearly as many citations linked to the coronavirus as to the Games themselves. In a few cases, citations to the coronavirus actually exceeded those to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.”
Early this year, the IOC Executive Board expressed its full commitment to the Tokyo Games, scheduled to take place from July 23 to August 8, reporting that all protective measures are being taken to address the coronavirus situation. Lately, they banned all non-athletic visitors from the Games. This situation has steadily deteriorated.
About Global Language Monitor
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. The company is known for its Words of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, and media analytics, and the Top Global Fashion Capitals.
Austin, Texas, December 2017. If you kept abreast of the daily press reports, you would think an outbreak of mass hysteria or at least amnesia had swept over the nations of the West. The world’s leading print and electronic media acted as if the concept of truth had been circumvented, or even, contravened, and sounded alarm after alarm that what we all knew as facts were no longer discernible. The source of this disruption in the news cycle, of course, was what came to be known as fake news and post-truth.
For historical comparisons of a number of the terms used in this analysis, GLM used the Google Ngram Viewer. You can use the Ngram Viewer to chart frequencies of comma-delimited search strings. The Google Ngram Viewer uses yearly counts from sources printed between 1500 and 2008, though in some cases later dates of publications are included.
In the first example, frequencies of citations between and among a number of words used to describe the Top Words of the Year for 2016 are plotted between 1940 and the present.
Figure 1. Relative Frequency of citations among words used to describe the Top Words of the Year for 2016
Figure 2. Close-up on Relative Frequency Among Some Top Words of the Year for 2016
Figure 3. Comparisons of the Words Truth Vs. Lie Since 1740
This is why early in the century, the Global Language Monitor put into place a methodology that clearly states that each considered word or phrase must adhere to the published criteria (see below). The methodology calls for words and phrases from the entire global English linguasphere to be considered, as well as each fulfilling geographic and demographic requirements. This automatically excludes the lists created by those organizations that rely on polls and other such non-scientific tools
A Methodology Optimized for the Wired World -- GLM’s Word of the Year rankings are based upon actual word usage
throughout the English-speaking world, which now approaches some 2.38 billion people, who use the language
as a first, second, business language. To qualify for these lists, the words, names, and phrases must meet
three criteria: 1) found globally, 2) have a minimum of 25,000 citations, and 3) have the requisite ‘depth’
and ‘breadth’ of usage. Depth is here defined as appearing in various forms of media; breadth that they must
appear world-over, not limited to a particular profession or social group or geography. The goal is to find
the word usage that will endure the test of time.
Global Language Monitor began to use newly available technologies to document the Words of the Year for Global English at the turn of the 21st century, with the idea to encapsulate and capture the essence of the preceding twelve months in a sort of linguistic amber.
Consider for a moment that fact that in 2009 GLM named ‘twitter’ as the Global English Word of the Year, not only as a social media phenomenon but as a potential Weapon of Mass Disruption (or even destruction). Witness: 1) the Arab Spring and 2) the actions of one Donald J. Trump.
Political Correctness
In a time so debilitated by the specter of political correctness (both from the left and the right), it seems rather demeaning to advance the concept of ‘fake news’, once you study its etymology, tracing back the origins of the word ‘fake’.
Cambridge Dictionaries’ definition of fakir: A Muslim (or, loosely, a Hindu) religious ascetic who lives solely on alms. Origin: Early 17th century: via French from Arabic faqīr. Fakir, Arabic Faqīr (“poor”), originally, a mendicant dervish. In mystical usage, the word fakir refers to man’s spiritual need for God, who alone is self-sufficient. Although of Muslim origin, the term has come to be applied in India to Hindus as well.
Fakirs are generally regarded as holy men who are possessed of miraculous powers, such as the ability to walk on fire or to subsist by looking only at the face of God.
In a Languagelog posting by Mark Liberman, How Fakirs Became Fakers, Edmund Wilson comments (from the grave) that Fakirs began to become entwined with fakers with a common usage that arose out of the American spiritualism craze of the 19th century. This is where one can witness the shift in meaning for the word fakir, from an Islamic religious ascetic to the Hindu “Yogi,” to a sort of street corner or carnival barker or “producer of illusions”.
In other words ‘fake news” joins a long list of ethnic slurs that have imbued American English since before the founding of the republic. They are too many to repeat. However the most common of these might be ‘ethnic-group’ giver’ or ‘ethnic-group rich’. Specifically, using the term fake news could be said to humiliate and/or cast aspersions upon Muslim and/or Hindu holy men. Recent searches of the New York Times found 869 instances of ‘fake news,’ while searches of The Washington Post found 1,352. None mentioned the historical dubiousness of the practice.
You can see this linguistic shift peaking around 1940 and continuing to this day.
Figure 4. Shift in Meaning Between Fakir and Faker During the 1940s
In retrospective, even the whole idea of fake news and post-truth is a bit of an over-reaction. The organizations that were disrupted the most by the appearance of unchecked, non-verifiable and inadequately sourced stories, were those upon which the world came to rely and depend upon to safeguard the information delivered to their audiences as verifiably true. To continue in these roles as stewards of truth, it was incumbent upon them to put into place new methods of testing information.
The unvarnished truth is that the dominant news gathering and distribution organizations fell behind the curve as sources of information multiplied by orders of magnitude. Neither did they comprehend the astonishingly rapid advances in computing power. Finally, the evolution of communication and social media tools advanced far more quickly than the old line media’s ability to adapt to and absorb them.
Decades of reporting on the decline of the US manufacturing base never seemed to register to old media as applicable lessons for themselves. In the mid-’80s, an HBS case study inquired as to which fared better — companies with strategic plans in place or those that had none. The answer: a dead heat. Apparently, companies without strategic plans were able to adjust more quickly to changing market conditions while companies with strategic plans all too often, steadfastly rode these plans straight into oblivion. (For more information on this phenomenon, check out the first two editions of In Search of Excellence. Prepare to be shocked.)
What is Truth?
The debate over what is truth has been ongoing since the search for an ‘honest man’ by Diogenes the Cynic, the dialogues of Socrates as recorded by Plato, the rhetorical question Pontius Pilate asked of the Christ, the Confessions of Augustine, the Summa of Aquinas, and the monastic scriptoria of Medieval Europe.
In the scriptoria of the Middle Ages, an elaborate system was constructed to ensure that no discrepancies were introduced into Scripture or highly-prized scholarly works — before the coming of movable type and the printing press. Can you imagine the decibel level of a discussion that played out over the misrepresentation of a single iota when dealing with the work of a Church Father, the Apostle Peter (or Paul), or the words of the Lord himself? This, of course, was complicated by the fact that there were few grammatical rules, little or no punctuation, no spaces between and among words, nor between sentences or paragraphs, and the like.
Even in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Harvard and Yale engaged in the same sort of tussle about the owner of Truth as the Right and Left are engaged in today. Harvard chose the Latin word Veritas (Truth) on its official seal, while Yale considered the matter closed by adding Lux et Veritas. (Light and Truth) to its own shield. Three hundred years later, in an academic world perhaps overly concerned with political correctness, Harvard won top honors for the Top Politically (in)Correct Word of 2016.
Watching the nightly news and reading the traditional (for the last two centuries, that is) media, one has the distinct sense that what they perceive as unprecedented almost chaotic circumstances is actually that of the normalcy of the new reality, that of communications at the speed of light that the internet has foisted upon us.
We keep hearing about this most unusual of election cycles, but this is only true when looking through the prism (and historical construct) of the traditional news gathering operations. What is called the 24-hour News Cycle is actually just the tip of the tsunami washing over the planet at an ever-quicker pace. Indeed, the nature of the beast hasn’t changed at all. It is our outdated techniques, that haven’t kept up with the new reality: News now emanates at the speed of thought, from tens of thousands or, even, millions of sources.
Can you imagine the uproar in the monastic world when documents would be produced with little or no vetting against the time-honored standards?
In 2008 GLM published an article, “Is Merriam-Webster its own Best Frenemy,” where we noted that its newest additions to its Collegiate Dictionary, were older than most entering college students at the time (28 years vs 18!) Indeed, for the most part, technology could solve most of the Post-truth and Fake News phenomena.
Since the turn of the 21st century, the Global Language Monitor (GLM) has named the Top Words of Global English. A decade earlier, the American Dialect Society began to name the Word of The Year for mostly American (and a bit of British) English with little or no use of the then emerging computer power. By the end of the first decade of the 21st Century, the BBC chose the Global Language Monitor to determine the Top English Words of the Decade worldwide while they chose an UK-based Linguist to highlight those of the UK.
One of the most surprising trends in the evolution of the Words of the Year over the last two decades is that they have become decidedly more parochial, and more trivial, as the century has progressed. Now there are about a dozen players, all competing for the same space, so the race has been one of dumbing down the various nominees and ultimate winner in an apparently desperate attempt to seek the lowest common denominator, or even worse, to optimize entertainment value.
Perhaps most surprising of all is the apparent lack of preparation by the venerable incumbent organizations responsible for gathering, sifting through, and certifying information that then qualifies as verifiably newsworthy.
Apocalyptic language has been widely cited as word of the year worthy for the last several years — and rightly so. In fact, Apocalypse and Armageddon took Global Language Monitors’ honors as Top Global English Words of 2012. And though GLM’s proprietary algorithms have displayed a predictive element, it’s entirely possible that Apocalyptic language did indeed peak some five years too soon.
About the Global Language Monitor
In 2003, The Global Language Monitor (GLM) was founded in Silicon Valley by Paul J.J. Payack on the understanding that new technologies and techniques were necessary for truly understanding the world of Big Data, as it is now known.
Today, from its home in Austin, Texas GLM provides a number of innovative products and services that utilize its ‘algorithmic services’ to help worldwide customers protect, defend and nurture their branded products and entities. Products include ‘brand audits’ to assess the current status, establish baselines, and competitive benchmarks for current intellectual assets and brands, and to defend products against ambush marketing.
These services are currently provided to the Fortune 500, the Higher Education market, high technology firms, the worldwide print, and electronic media, as well as the global fashion industry, among others.
For more information, call 1.512.801-6823, email info@LanguageMonitor.com, or visit www.LanguageMonitor.com.
In 2003, The Global Language Monitor (GLM) was founded in Silicon Valley by Paul J.J. Payack on the understanding that new technologies and techniques were necessary for truly understanding the world of Big Data, as it is now known.
Today, from its home in Austin, Texas GLM provides a number of innovative products and services that utilize its ‘algorithmic services’ to help worldwide customers protect, defend and nurture their branded products and entities. Products include ‘brand audits’ to assess the current status, establish baselines, and competitive benchmarks for current intellectual assets and brands.
These services are currently provided to the Fortune 500, Olympic Partners, leading Higher Education institutions, high-tech firms, the worldwide print and electronic media, the global fashion industry, among others.
Paul JJ Payack lecturing on Big and Ephemeral Data in Shanghai
Payack was cited as the first Shanghai International Creative City Think Tank Master.
GLM foresees a time in the near future where data doubles every hour, every minute, then every second.
To address this unfolding reality, GLM created the tools you need to address an enterprise in a world never at rest, where the facts can change before you locked your strategy into place, in the world where the social media of today is but a hint of what will emerge in the coming months and years.
GLM’s specialized products and services have been built from the ground up for Big and bigger data, for a marketplace ever in flux, where the only constant changes.
To address this unfolding reality, GLM created the tools you need to address an enterprise in a world never at rest, where the facts can change before you locked your strategy into place, in the world where the social media of today is but a hint of what will emerge in the coming months and years.
GLM’s specialized products and services have been built from the ground up for big and bigger data, for a marketplace ever in flux, where the only constant is change.
global Language Monitor’s proprietary algorithms (including the PQI and Narrative Tracker) are used to plum ephemeral data on any topic for any industry worldwide, quickly and accurately. Many organizations have used GLM as an additional input to their already robust analytical solutions. Call 1 (737) 215-7750 or email PJJP@Post.HarvARD.EDU.
Subprime Meltdown (New York Times)
In 2006, The New York Times worked with the Global Language Monitor to assess the state of the New York City real estate market. GLM’s used its proprietary POI technology, which The Times described as “an algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet in relation to frequency, context, and appearance in the global media.” The study has been hailed as presaging the coming Financial Meltdown, now known as the Great Recession.
The New York Times featuring GLM’s PQI
.
GLM’s Founder on BBC America
GLM as a Source of Record
GLM continues to be cited hundreds of by the leading print and electronic media the world over. In fact, the worldwide print and electronic media have come to rely on The Global Language Monitor for its expert analysis on cultural trends and their subsequent impact on various aspects of culture.
Worldwide print and electronic media have come to rely on GLM for itS Trend Tracking and analytics-based analyses.
BBC Cites GLM for Words of the Decade
At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the BBC used two global experts to choose the words that would sum up the decades, represented English as spoken in the UK, the other English as spoken in America, Australia and the rest of the world.
The Global Language Monitor’s president was chosen for Global English as shown below.
A representative sampling includes: CNN, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, United Press International, Knight-Ridder, USAToday, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Charlotte Observer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, San Jose Mercury, New York Post, NPR, FoxNews, ABC, NBC, CBS, ChinaNews, Peoples Daily, The National Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, The BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Company, The Canadian Broadcasting Company, The Cape Town Argus, El Pais (Madrid), The Daily Mail (Scotland), The Hindustan Times, The Gulf News (Qatar), and various electronic and print media on six continents.
About Paul JJ Payack
Paul JJ Payack has served as a senior executive of three Fortune 500 high technology companies (Unisys, Dun & Bradstreet, and StorageTek), and three Silicon Valley technology companies (Apollo Computer, Intelliguard Software, Legato Systems) that were acquired by four other Silicon Valley giants (EMC, Dell, Oracle, and HP), as well as numerous start-ups and re-starts. (For Payack’s Linkedin bio, go here.)
Currently, GLM’s President and Chief Word Analyst, he also was the founding president of yourDictionary.com. These two language sites attract millions of page views a month. He founded GLM in Silicon Valley in 2003 and moved it to Austin, Texas in 2008.
Payack taught scientific and technological communications at the University of Massachusetts, the University of Texas-Arlington and Babson College, the Federal Reserve Bank (NY), GM/Hughes Aircraft, and many others.
He is a frequent guest on the media circuit including CNN, the BBC, NPR, the CBS, Australia Broadcasting Company and Chinese Radio and Television.
Payack is the author of some eighteen collections (seven currently in print), including A Million Words and Counting, Kensington (New York) as well as co-author with Edward ML Peters of The Paid-for Option (Tower Oaks Press), an analysis of the healthcare crisis in the USA. (For a sampling of Payack’s creative work, including metafiction, flash fiction, and collage art, go here.)
Payack studied philosophy and psychology at Bucknell University and was graduated from Harvard University where he studied comparative literature and classical languages, also publishing his first collection of metafiction, A Ripple in Entropy. Later he earned a CAGS with a focus on fine arts; his thesis being a Play in Seven Episodes. Worlds to Shatter, Shattered Worlds.
He currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, Millie, and family. Contact Payack directly: 001 737 215 7750 or pauljjpayack@gmail.com or @languagemonitor.
In 2003, The Global Language Monitor (GLM) was founded in Silicon Valley by Paul J.J. Payack on the understanding that new technologies and techniques were necessary for truly understanding the world of Big Data, as it is now known.
Today, from its home in Austin, Texas GLM provides a number of innovative products and services that utilize its ‘algorithmic services’ to help worldwide customers protect, defend and nurture their branded products and entities. Products include ‘brand audits’ to assess the current status, establish baselines, and competitive benchmarks for current intellectual assets and brands.
These services are currently provided to the Fortune 500, Olympic Partners, leading Higher Education institutions, high-tech firms, the worldwide print and electronic media, the global fashion industry, among others.
Paul JJ Payack lecturing on Big and Ephemeral Data in Shanghai
Payack was cited as the first Shanghai International Creative City Think Tank Master.
GLM foresees a time in the near future where data doubles every hour, every minute, then every second.
To address this unfolding reality, GLM created the tools you need to address an enterprise in a world never at rest, where the facts can change before you locked your strategy into place, in the world where the social media of today is but a hint of what will emerge in the coming months and years.
GLM’s specialized products and services have been built from the ground up for Big and bigger date, for a marketplace ever in flux, where the only constant changes.
Ephemera
In 2003, GLM’s founder, Paul JJ Payack, first conceived of a new class of data that he called Ephemera, or Ephemeral Data.
Global Language Monitor’s proprietary algorithms (including the PQI and Narrative Tracker) are used to plum ephemeral data on any topic for any industry worldwide, quickly and accurately. Many organizations have used GLM as an additional input to their already robust analytical solutions. Call 1.737.215.7750 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com
Subprime Meltdown (New York Times)
In 2006, The New York Times worked with the Global Language Monitor to assess the state of the New York City real estate market. GLM’s used its proprietary POI technology, which The Times described as “an algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet in relation to frequency, context, and appearance in the global media.” The study has been hailed as presaging the coming Financial Meltdown, now known as the Great Recession.
The New York Times featuring GLM’s PQI
.
GLM’s Founder on BBC America
GLM as a Source of Record
GLM continues to be cited hundreds of by the leading print and electronic media the world over. In fact, the worldwide print and electronic media have come to rely on The Global Language Monitor for its expert analysis on cultural trends and their subsequent impact on various aspects of culture.
Worldwide print and electronic media have come to rely on GLM for it Trend Tracking and analytics-based analyses.
BBC Cites GLM for Words of the Decade
At the end of the first decade of the 21st century, the BBC used two global experts to choose the words that would sum up the decades, represented English as spoken in the UK, the other English as spoken in America, Australia and the rest of the world.
The Global Language Monitor’s president was chosen for Global English as shown below.
A representative sampling includes: CNN, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, United Press International, Knight-Ridder, USAToday, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Charlotte Observer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, San Jose Mercury, New York Post, NPR, FoxNews, ABC, NBC, CBS, ChinaNews, Peoples Daily, The National Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, The BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Company, The Canadian Broadcasting Company, The Cape Town Argus, El Pais (Madrid), The Daily Mail (Scotland), The Hindustan Times, The Gulf News (Qatar), and various electronic and print media on six continents.
About Paul JJ Payack
Paul JJ Payack has served as a senior executive of three Fortune 500 high technology companies (Unisys, Dun & Bradstreet, and StorageTek), and three Silicon Valley technology companies (Apollo Computer, Intelliguard Software, Legato Systems) that were acquired by four other Silicon Valley giants (EMC, Dell, Oracle, and HP), as well as numerous start-ups and re-starts. (For Payack’s Linkedin bio, go here.)
Currently, GLM’s President and Chief Word Analyst, he also was the founding president of yourDictionary.com. These two language sites attract millions of page views a month. He founded GLM in Silicon Valley in 2003 and moved it to Austin, Texas in 2008.
Payack taught scientific and technological communications at the University of Massachusetts, the University of Texas-Arlington and Babson College, the Federal Reserve Bank (NY), GM/Hughes Aircraft, and many others.
He is a frequent guest on the media circuit including CNN, the BBC, NPR, the CBS, Australia Broadcasting Company and Chinese Radio and Television.
Payack is the author of some eighteen collections (seven currently in print), including A Million Words and Counting, Kensington (New York) as well as co-author with Edward ML Peters of The Paid-for Option (Tower Oaks Press), an analysis of the healthcare crisis in the USA. (For a sampling of Payack’s creative work, including metafiction, flash fiction, and collage art, go here.)
Payack studied philosophy and psychology at Bucknell University and was graduated from Harvard University where he studied comparative literature and classical languages, also publishing his first collection of metafiction, A Ripple in Entropy. Later he earned a CAGS with a focus on fine arts; his thesis being a Play in Seven Episodes. Worlds to Shatter, Shattered Worlds.
He currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, Millie, and family. Contact Payack directly: 001 737 215 7750 or pauljjpayack@gmail.com or @languagemonitor.
The Global Language Monitor Announces that “Covid-19” is the Top Word, “Work at Home” the Top Phrase and “WHO” the Top Name of 2020 for the English Language Worldwide
The Global Language Monitor’s twenty-first consecutive global survey since the turn of the 21st century
Contact: Paul JJ Payack, +1.737.215.7750 or Email — Info@languagemonitor.com or PJJP@post.Harvard.edu
AUSTIN, Texas, January 3, 2021 — The Global Language Monitor (GLM), the data research company, announced that ‘Covid-19’ is the top word, “Work at Home” the top phrase and “WHO” the top name of 2020 for the English Language Worldwide.
The Top Ten Words of 2020 are Work at Home, WHO, Covid-19, Covid, MAGA, Coronavirus, Zoom, New Normal, The Virus and Trade War. These are followed by Black Lives Matter, Face mask, Corona, Progress, Truth, The Pandemic, Fake News, Sustainability, Donald Trump, Identity Politics, Climate Change, Essential Workers, Lockdown, Joe Biden, and Social Distancing. For details, see below.
Global Language Monitor (GLM) is the premier data research and media analytics company that documents, analyzes, and tracks trends in language usage worldwide.
Recently, the European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences has characterized the Global Language Monitor Word of the Year Project as ‘objectively providing’ a ‘picture of the world that helps one understand significant trends in the states of minds around the world … [through the detection of] the small changes in language that often presage titanic shifts in the way humans communicate”.
[Quote from Paul JJ Payack, president and chief work analyst for the Global Language Monitor. Payack is the founding president of both yourDictionary,com and the Global Language Monitor.]
“This Year of the Pandemic has provided a reset to most human activities, and the Word of the Year endeavor has not been immune to its influence and power. The key question is how do you measure the words to describe this global plague against all the others? Our answer is to simply record their impact, like any other, — 2020 was already a year of global upheaval. Indeed, the top pandemic-related words have scored the highest Narrative Tracker Values ever recorded since the very first days of this not-so-young century.”
For the year 2020, GLM took a snapshot of the global language picture some ninety days after the advent of the first national lockdowns, when governments began to recognize the severity of the oncoming pandemic. This current analysis not only details the top 50 words, phrases, and names but also shows the changes in the word rankings since those first lockdowns.
Biggest Movers Since Beginning of Pandemic
Gainers Percent Increase
WHO, up 31 %
Work-at-Home, up 56 %
MAGA. up 91 %
New Normal, up 47 %
The Virus. up94 %
The Top Words of the Year 2020 No, 1-25, along with definitions and past and current rankings, follows.
Top Words of 2020 for Worldwide English
Final
Word
Comment
Midyear
Change
1
Work at Home
The result of social distancing guidelines where employees must stay separated.
29
Up 28
2
WHO
WHO – The World Health Organization, the United Nations as the agency overseeing international public health.
35
Up 33
3
Covid-19
The official name of the disease caused by SARS CoV-2; named in WHO’s Int’l Classification of Diseases (ICD).
4
Covid
The shorthand for Covid-19.
1
-3
5
MAGA
Make America Great Again: 2016 Campaign slogan of President Trump.
38
Up 33
6
Coronavirus
Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Gamma: the four main groupings of coronaviruses. Alpha, \
3
-3
7
Zoom
Group meetings held over video conferencing channels.
15
Up 8
8
New Normal
Reality of the pandemic-ravaged world.
37
Up 29
9
The Virus
Shorthand for Covid-19.
28
Up 19
10
Trade War
The economic conflict between China and the US employing tariffs.
9
-1
11
Black Lives Matter
A movement protesting police brutality against African Americans.
32
Up 21
12
Face mask
Face covering that helps halt the spread of Covid-19 to varying degrees depending on fabric and number of layers.
5
-7
13
Corona
From the Latin for ‘crown’. Compare the Sun’s corona during a total eclipse.
4
-9
14
Progress
The concept that Humankind is on the inexorable course toward achieving greater economic and personal freedom.
6
-8
15
Truth
Being congruent with reality; real, genuine, conformable with the highest standard or quality.
7
-8
16
The Pandemic
The current global pandemic precipitated by SARS-CoV-2.
27
Up 11
17
Fake News
Packaged news, planted sources, one-sided exposes, party lines, and official narratives are new phenomena only to those with no sense of history.
38
Up 21
18
Sustainability
The ability to create an environment that supplies certain needs without compromising future production.
10
-8
19
Donald Trump
Donald J. Trump, the 46th, and current, president of the United States.
18
-1
20
Identity Politics
Politics based on individual characteristics, such as skin color or ethnic background, or gender.
13
-7
21
Climate Change
Climate change has ranked in the Top Ten for the last dozen years or so.
24
Up 3
22
Essential Workers
Workers whose jobs are important to the smooth running of a political entity, putting themselves at a higher risk of infection.
43
Up 21
23
Lockdown
Restricting movement outside homes for locales or geographic districts.
12
-11
24
Joe Biden
President-elect of the United States after defeating President Trump.
34
Up 10
25
Social Distancing
Distance individuals should keep from each other to lessen risk of virus transmission; a minimum of two meters.
Top Words Nos. 26-50 of 2020 for Worldwide English Follow.
Researched, Designed, & Published by The Global Language Monitor
Final
Word
Comment
Midyear
Change
26
Wet Market
Markets for a variety of live, often exotic, highly sought after, sometimes wild, animals in China.
48
Up 22
27
Symptoms
Physical conditions that may signify the presence of a virus or illness.
19
-8
28
Progressives
The word ‘liberal’ outlived its usefulness as the description of one’s political leanings
14
-14
29
Migrants
People moving from one nation, region, or geography to another.
17
-12
30
Quarantine
Restricting physical movements to one’s home or institution, often separated from all others.
16
-14
31
Outbreak
The seemingly sudden appearance of a disease in a community or geographic location.
20
-11
32
Shelter-in-place
Remain inside your current environment until the crisis has passed.
39
Up 7
33
George Floyd
George Floyd, a black American, was killed by a Minneapolis police officer kneeling on his neck for eight minutes. His death sparked global protests.
31
-2
34
Conservatives
Political philosophy that favors saving the best from the past while moving toward the future.
22
-12
35
Unemployment
Highest unemployment numbers the US has seen since the Great Recession — and possibly the Depression.
23
-12
36
Hand Sanitizer
Washing one’s hands with an anti-bacterial soap for thirty seconds is strong barrier against Covid.
25
-11
37
Stimulus
Massive $3 trillion+ funding effort by the US to help keep families (and the economy) afloat.
30
-7
38
CDC
The Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.
21
-17
38
White Privilege
Supposed advantages carried by Whites by virtue of their ethnic heritage.
26
-12
39
Woke
The state of suddenly becoming aware of social injustices in the society.
33
-6
40
Self Isolate
To confine oneself in a quarantine-like state for a suggested period of time, usually two weeks.
41
Up 1
41
Disinfectant
A chemical agent that kills bacteria.
36
-5
42
Kamala Harris
Vice President-elect of the United States.
NR
NR
43
Wuhan
City in Central China, the supposed epicenter of the CoronaVirus-19 outbreak.
47
Up 4
44
Mike Pence
Sitting Vice President of the United States.
44
0
45
Mitch McConnell
Current Majority leader of the US Senate.
NR
NR
46
Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the US House of Representatives
40
-6
47
Dr. Anthony Fauci
Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; key in Covid-19 policy.
49
Up 2
48
Flatten the Curve
The movement to change the political balance of the Supreme Court of the United States by adding members with a certain political philosophy.
11
-47
49
Amy Coney Barrett
New Associate Justice of the US Supreme court, replacing Ruth Bader Ginsberg,
NR
NR
50
Antifa
A loosely affiliated group of far-left, anti-fascism activists, known as “antifa” in the United States.
NR
NR
NR
Super spreader
Persons or events that carry enhanced disease spreading capability.
46
NR
NR
Impeach Trump
The effort to remove a duly-elected or appointed official from office before their term has expired.
44
NR
NR
Dr Deborah Birx
Coronavirus Response Coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
50
NR
Researched, Designed, and Published by The Global Language Monitor
Typically, the Global Language Monitor ranks words, phrases, and names on three separate lists, and the lists are limited to 20 items. For this effort, GLM has combined the lists and extended the word count to 50 items. To view the entire list, go to www.LanguageMonitor.com.
Global Language Monitor began recording the Top Words of the Year in 2000 to document the history of the 21st Century through the English language, the world’s first truly global language. The words are culled throughout the English-speaking world, which as of January 2018 ranks more than 3.12 billion speakers. Global Language Monitor employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global internet and social media analysis.
NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the internet, blogosphere, and the top 300,000 print and electronic global media as well as new social media sources as they emerge.
In addition, the Global Language Monitor has also tracked the Top Words, Phrases and Names of the 21st Century.
More information about these and the company can be found at Languagemonitor.com.
About Global Language Monitor
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. The company is known for its Word of the Year, the Top Global Fashion Capitals, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, Olympic branding, and media analytics. For more information, visit Languagemonitor.com.
Media Contact: Paul JJ Payack, +1.737.215.7750; pauljjpayack@gmail.com
WARNING: This was published in early February as a worst-case scenario. The intent was to alert the world of the on-coming catastrophe.
The idea was to take the numbers from the Hong Kong Institute of Science and Technology as published in the journal, Lancet, and to simply extrapolate them forward — if the coronavirus was left unchecked by any human intervention.
We are publishing this article only to show the extent of the spread of the virus IFLEFTUNCHECKED. All recent potential pandemics (including Ebola, SARS, and MERS) were stopped due to deliberate action taken by the worldwide medical community (especially the WHO, the CDC, NHC, etc.,) and the proper precautions directed by the relevant government bodies and heroic NGOs.
ThoughtTopper Institute: The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Calendar
Overview: The news from China is not good. Most recently The South China Morning Post detailed,
“Measures unveiled by the authorities in Beijing and Shanghai on Monday include stricter controls on the movement of residents and vehicles, compulsory mask-wearing and shutting down leisure and other non-essential community services … Beijing Daily reported on Monday that the capital, with a population of over 20 million, would step up efforts to further restrict access to residential communities and compounds and introduce a citywide registration system for entries into Beijing.
In addition, “Officials at the epidemic control and prevention centre in Shanghai said on Monday that “the vast majority” of the city’s 13,000 residential communities and compounds had instituted “lockdown management”, including entry restrictions and mandatory temperature checks.”
Confusion Abounds
According to the New York Times, “on Thursday, officials added more than 14,840 new cases to the tally of the infected in Hubei Province alone, bringing the total number to 48,206, the largest one-day increase so far recorded. The death toll in the province rose to 1,310, including 242 new deaths.
“The sharp rise in reported cases illustrates how hard it has been for scientists to grasp the extent and severity of the coronavirus outbreak in China, particularly inside the epicenter, where thousands of sick people remain untested for the illness.”
Furthermore, some investigators have suggested that the number of new cases was leveling off and will, in fact, peak and level off in the next few weeks. One study actually picked a date (February 23); mark your calendar.
Projections from Published Numbers
The COVID-19 Calendar is based on the data provided by the British medical journal The Lancet working with data supplied to them by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and the National Health Commission (NHC) of China, among others. The Global Language Monitor is not responsible for any of the data — only with the extrapolation of the data.
Note: Tip of the Ice Berg? These extrapolations in themselves are hypothetical and should be taken as such. These numbers assume that the number of infections has been substantially under-reported, due to a number of factors.
This data was gathered with an abundance of caution after studying the various numbers coming out of Wuhan. The projected numbers are published herein because these results have been assiduously avoided in the media in all forms.
Obviously, COVID-19 cannot expand indefinitely as in the extrapolation above. Typically, these pandemics either burn themselves out or a halted through Human intervention. The gravest predictions now top out at a 60% infection rate for the entire Human population. Rest assured, that this has never happened in all recorded history.
Origin of Graphics, The Lancet
This ThoughtTopper Institute publication was compiled by Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor.
About Global Language Monitor
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor is a data research organization. For more information, visit Languagemonitor.com. For more information call +1.737.215.7750 or email Info@languageMonitor.com
Global Language Monitor Announces That ‘Covid’ is the Top Word of 2020 (Top 50 #WOTY Ranked)
AUSTIN, Texas,
July 6, 2020 (Newswire.com)
Global Language Monitor (GLM), the data research company that documents, analyzes, and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, has announced that Covid is the Top Word of 2020 in its mid-year update.
“It’s no surprise that ‘covid’ has risen to the top of the rankings,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM. “However, ‘covid’ has received the highest number of citations ever recorded in our global survey. In fact, ‘covid’ has outranked all previous Words of the Year in the 21st century by a factor of 100, or more.”
Covid is the commonly used shorthand for the shorthand for Covid-19. Covid-19 is the official name of the virus caused by the SARS CoV-2 virus, so named in WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
Covid-19 is ranked No. 2 on GLM’s mid-year update. The Top Ten Words of the Year (#WOTY) for 2020 include Covid, Covid-19, Coronavirus, Corona, Face mask, Progress, Truth, Social Distancing, Trade War, and Sustainability.
Top Words of the Year of 2020 (#WOTY2020) mid-year update follow (Rank, Word, Definition/Comment).
Please Note: Typically, the Global Language Monitor publishes the Top Twenty Words in its rankings. In this #WOTY2020 mid-year update, for the historical record, we are extending the published rankings to the Top Fifty.
Global Language Monitor
Top Words of 2020 for Global English (Mid-year Update
Rank
Word
Definition
1
Covid
The shorthand for Covid-19 has the largest number of citations ever recorded in the 21st century.
2
Covid-19
The name of the virus caused by the SARS CoV-2 by WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
3
Coronavirus
SARS-CoV-2 full name of virus that causes Covied-19.
4
Corona
From the Latin for ‘crown’. Compare the Sun’s corona during a total eclipse.
5
Face mask
A face covering that helps halt the spread of Covid-19 to varying degrees depending on the material and number of layers.
6
Progress
The belief that society moves ever towards betterment
7
Truth
The idea that there is an objective, discernible reality for humans to discover and cherish.
8
Social Distancing
The distance individuals should keep from each other to lessen risk of virus transmission, usually about 2 meters or six feet.
9
Trade War
Colossal struggle between US and China with worldwide repercussions.
10
Sustainability
Creating an environment that supplies certain needs without comprmising future production.
11
Flatten the Curve
The ability to manage the number of case so as to not overwhelm the hospital system.
12
Lockdown
Restricting movement outside home or district.
13
Identity Politics
Politics based on certain elements of one’s makeup, such as skin color or ethic background, or gender.
14
Progressives
The word ‘liberal’ outlived its usefulness as the description of one’s political leanings.
15
Zoom
Group meetings held over videoconferencing channels.
16
Quarantine
Restricting physical movements to one’s home or institution, often separated from all others.
17
Migrants
People moving from one nation to another.
18
Donald Trump
Donald J. Trump, the 46th president of the US.
19
Symptoms
Physical conditions that may signify the presence of a virus or illness.
20
Outbreak
The seemingly sudden appearance of a disease in a community or geographic location.
21
CDC
The Centers fo Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia.
22
Conservatives
Political philosophy that favors saving the best from the past while moving toward the future.
23
Unemployment
Highest unemployment numbers the US has seen since the Great Recession — and possibly the Depression.
24
Climate Change
Climate change has ranked in the Top Ten for the last dozen years or so.
25
Hand Sanitizer
Washing one’s hands with an anti-bacterial soap for thirty seconds is a strong barrier against Covid-19.
26
White Privilege
Supposed advantages carried by Whites by virture of their ethnic heritage.
27
The Pandemic
Current global pandemic precipitated by SARS-CoV-2.
28
The Virus
Shorthand for Covid-19.
29
Work at Home
The result of social distancing guidelines where employees must stay separated from each other.
30
Stimulus
Massive $3 trillion+ funding effort by the US Federal Government to help keep families (and the economy) afloat.
31
George Floyd
George Floyd, a black American, was killed by a police officer kneeling on his neck for some eight minutes in Minneapolis. His death sparked global protests.
32
Black Lives Matter
A movement protesting police brutality against African-Americans.
33
Woke
The state of suddenly becoming aware of social injustices in the society.
34
Joe Biden
Presumptive presidential nominee of the Democrat Party against President Trump.
35
Wuhan
Largest city in Central China, capital of Hubei Province, population 11,000,000; original epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak.
36
WHO
WHO – World Health Organization was established in 1948 by the United Nations as the agency overseeing international public health.
37
Disinfectant
A chemical agent that kills bacteria.
38
New Normal
The new reality of the pandemic-ravaged world.
38
MAGA
Campaign slogan of President Trump in 2016.
39
Fake News
Packaged news, planted sources, one-sided exposes, party lines, and official narratives are a new phenomenon only to those with no sense of history.
40
Shelter-in-place
Being confined to one’s home or institution to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
41
Nancy Pelosi
The Speaker of the House of Representatives; the highest ranked Democratic office holder.
42
Self Isolate
Quarantined for a minimum of 14 days after being exposed to Covid-19 to help stop the spread of the virus.
43
Dr. Anthony Fauci
Dr. Anthony Fauci is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
44
“I Can’t Breathe”
The last words uttered by George Floyd as he lay dying at the hands of Minneapolis police.
45
Essential Workers
Those workers who perform ‘essential’ tasks during the coronavirus pandemic, most notably in healthcare, food production and distribution, and the service sector.
46
Wet Market
Outdoor markets that offer recently slaughtered meat, fish and poultry; sometimes including live animals.
47
Impeach Trump
The Trump impeachment effort ended with a vote of acquittal on February 5, 2020, just as the pandemic was taking off in the US,
48
Defund Police
A movement to re-focus police departments to social welfare duties.
49
Super Spreader
A single person or event that propagates ‘clusters’ of the outbreak. Some 20% of infected super spreaders could be responsible for 80% of viral transmission.
50
Dr. Deborah Birx
Dr. Deborah Birx is the Coronavirus Response Coordinator, White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Typically, the Global Language Monitor ranks words, phrases, and names on three separate lists, and the lists are limited to 20 items. For this effort, GLM has combined the lists and extended the word count to 50 items.
Global Language Monitor began recording the Top Words of the Year in 2000 to document the history of the 21st Century through the English language, the world’s first truly global language. The words are culled throughout the English-speaking world, which as of January 2018 ranks more than 2.58 billion speakers. Global Language Monitor employs its NarrativeTracker technologies for global internet and social media analysis.
NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the internet, blogosphere, and the top 300,000 print and electronic global media as well as new social media sources as they emerge.
In addition, the Global Language Monitor has also tracked the Top Words, Phrases and Names of the 21st Century.
More information about these and the company can be found at Languagemonitor.com.
About Global Language Monitor
Based in Austin, Texas, the Global Language Monitor collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language usage worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language. The company is known for its Word of the Year, political analysis, college and university rankings, high-tech buzzwords, and media analytics. For more information, visit Languagemonitor.com.
There is a very real and imminent threat of the emergence of “Super Spreaders” from the coronavirus pandemic. This threat appears to be largely overlooked in an analysis of the news media recently completed by Austin-based Global Language Monitor, the data research company.
This risk of the emergence of ‘super spreaders’ has been significantly heightened by three factors: the gradual re-opening of the American economy, people flocking to summertime activities after Memorial Day, and the mass protests that have arisen since the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25th, 2020.
Official statistics concerning the number of protesters have not been officially tallied, but it is reasonable to assume that there have been more than 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 participating in the US-based protests with another 500,000 in the rest of the world. The period of the protests continues lasted about two weeks ending with the march on Washington, on June 6, 2020. Many participated on multiple days, multiplying chances of exposure.
There has been significant research in the clustering and superspreader phenomena particularly since the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
On-going research, such as “Clustering and superspreading potential of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in Hong Kong” are currently in the process of peer review, This and other similar studies are being posted online before the completion of the peer review process because of the severity of the on-going crisis.
The study suggests that most new cases of Covid-19 are propagated by ‘superspreaders’ and not by direct contact or one-on-one transmission. Researchers assessed more than 1,000 infections in Hong Kong between January 23 and April 28. The authors used intense contact tracing to determine the manner in which persons were infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19. Other researchers have found that some 20% of Covid-19 carriers are responsible for about 80% of disease transmissions
Scientists tracking the new coronavirus’ spread have generally focused on two numbers: reproduction number (Rο) pronounced ‘R-nought), which represents the average number of new infections caused by a single infected person. The second is called the dispersion factor (k), a number indicating the likelihood that a particular disease will spread in clusters.
Without any social distancing, the new coronavirus’ R-number, according to the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), is around 2.6 - 3.5
This is where the K factor, measuring dispersion, comes into play. As opposed to the R number, the lower the lower the K number, the more likely it is the virus is propagated by small group of people.
Recent evidence concerning super spreading events abounds: a meeting of pharmaceutical executives in Boston; a house party in Westport, Connecticut; and a choir practice in Washington State, among many others. Each of these smaller events resulted in the transmission of the virus to scores or hundreds of individuals.
Perhaps the most well-known of the current crop of superspreaders is the unnamed bartender at an Austrian Ski Resort. Contact tracing found some 1300 infections in a number of countries traced to this particular transmitter. Infections were traced to Iceland, Norway, Austria, and Germany.
Also of note is the finding that the key method of transmission appears to be exercising one’s lungs: talking, singing, shouting, and speech-giving. This makes any large gathering problematic in the extreme; whether cheering at a Trump rally, singing on a beach or shouting at a protest.
There is some concern that the fact of the potential exponential progression of the transmission of Covid-19. is not being widely discussed in the media, as shown below.
The first graphic shows that as the Coronavirus Rapidly Spread in January, the pandemic that would ultimately take the lives of some 100,000 Americans by Labor Day, was treated as an after thought, the News Media was Focused on the Impeachment of President Trump by a 10:1 Margin (Source: Google Trends).
The second graphic shows that after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police on May 25, the news media, overlooked the potential for the exponential growth of the virus led by the superspreader phenomenon. The ratio was 2:1 protests vs. Covid-19 stories, with virtually no mention of the inherent danger of the superspreader phenomenon.
According to Preliminary Estimation of the Basic Reproduction Number of Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China, “The mean estimate of R0 for the 2019-nCoV ranges from 2.24 to 3.58, and is significantly larger than 1”
This is especially troubling since a recent article in the New York Times, an epidemiologist opined about the number of infections that could be attributed to the recent protests are based on his assumption that “Over several weeks, as each infected person infected just under one other person on average — the current U.S. transmission rate — those infections would in turn lead to 15,000 to 50,000 more, and 50 to 500 eventual deaths”. The article does not mention the possibility of the Superspreader Phenomenon.
If the effective R nought rate is indeed closer to that found in the HKUST study and if superspreaders lurk in the midst of these crowds, both of which seem likely, than the number of infections would increase by a factor of ten, or more.
The New York Times article concluded that “Societal benefit of continued protests must be weighed against substantial potential impacts to health.” According to the CDC, some 60% of those deaths would be suffered by persons of color.
Study the figure below: Transmission network associated with a single wedding exposure subsequently linked to a preceding social gathering and local source exposure. Again, the graphic was based on contact tracing in Hong Kong.
From: Clustering and superspreading potential of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections in Hong Kong
Now consider the timely and very real example of the infamous Philadelphia Parade at the height of the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.
A huge parade was scheduled in the summer of 1918, the height of the Spanish Flu epidemic, to take place in the heart of Philadelphia. It purpose was to raise money to support the ‘dough boys’ that had recently been shipped off to Europe to end the stalemate of the horrific ‘trench warfare’.
Some 200,000 people thronged Broad Street on parade day, along a two-mile route; they cheered as the procession passed along the route. The unintended result: within a few days, every hospital bed in he city was occupied. Within a week, nearly 3,000 died. Ultimately some 20,000 would die.
The parade was for worthy cause: The ending of the Great War. World War I ended with a death toll of some 20,000,000.
Was participating in this colossal event, showing one’s commitment to the cause, to help change the course of world events worth the risk? Most, at the time, would have answered yes.
The Windsor Women Fashion Effect & A New Fashion Hierarchy for the Windsor Women
Contact: 1.737.215.7750
pjjp@post.harvard.edu
Austin, Texas. May 20, 2018 – The Windsor Women Fashion Effect appears ready to extend far beyond The Duchess Effect with the addition of a powerful new ‘brand’: that of Meghan Markle, the soon-to-be wife of Prince Harry, the current sixth in line to the British Throne.
Meghan Markle further enhances the already formidable ‘cred’ of the Windsor family beyond that of Princess Kate as she is widely known to the world. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, first stood atop the Fashion Buzzword List back in 2012 for ‘the Duchess Effect’, according to the annual analysis by the Global Language Monitor (GLM).
GLM utilized over 20,000,000 data points and citations to produce its data arrays. This is but a single array in the analysis.
And Introducing, The New Fashion Hierarchy for the House of Windsor
Founded in Silicon Valley, Austin, Texas-based GLM collectively documents, analyzes and tracks trends worldwide, with a particular emphasis upon the English language.
GLM employs proprietary ‘algorithmic methodologies’ such as the NarrativeTracker for global Internet and social media analysis. NarrativeTracker is based on global discourse, providing a real-time, accurate picture of what the public is saying about any topic, at any point in time. NarrativeTracker analyzes the Internet, blogosphere, the top 375,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new media sources, as they emerge. For more information, go to www.LanguageMonitor.com, call 1.737.215.7750 or email pauljjpayack@gmail.com.
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