UPDATE: March 23 2017 (Originally AUSTIN, Texas July 15-17, 2016) – Bigly, Brexit, and ‘Non-binary’ lead the Top Trending Words and Phrases of 2016 thus far, followed by the Prince Symbol, Zika, Gun Violence / Gun Culture, Safe Place, Heroin and fentanyl according to the current word trends in global English being tracked by the Global Language Monitor, the big-data, trend-tracking consultancy.
“By the sixteenth year of the 20th century, the world was already awash in the trends that would influence the rest of the century, reaching all the way into the early 21st century.” said Paul JJ Payack, chief word analyst, the Global Language Monitor. “The twenty-first century trends that accompany these words might similarly portend far greater events than they represent today..”
The Top Trending Words of 2016 are listed below (Rank, Word, and Comment).
Top Trending Words for 2016, thus far.
Rank, Word, Commentary
1. Bigly — Things trending larger … bigly. Almost everything trended bigly thus far in 2016 from politics and foreign affairs, to terrorism and gun violence,
2, Brexit — The British Exit from the European Union provides a new vocabulary for future political breakups: Scotxit, Quebecxit and, even, Texit.
3. Non-binary — A legal term for a gender identity between male and female
4. Perhaps the first emoji. The unpronounceable symbol representing the singer formerly known as Prince.
5. Zika — Please note that Rio is not on this list; its spot was taken by the Zika Virus. A potential global pandemic with Rio as its epicenter.
6. Gun Culture / Gun Violence — Gun Culture/Gun Violence are neck-and neck in the ranking here.
7. Safe Place — In the US, places where students can retreat to avoid hearing unpleasant words; in the world, places protected from rape, crucifixion, being sold into slavery, and the like.
8. Heroin and Fentanyl — More deaths from opioids in the US than gun violence and auto accidents combined. Where is the outrage?
9. Hooya ha tah iti bin — “Son please don’t smuggle yourself.” Transliteration of a Somali mother’s plea to her son not to join the refugee flow into Europe.
10. Memory Care — Current euphemism for Alzheimer care.
11. Presumptive — Presumptive Republican nominee, presumptive Democratic nominee, presumptive prime minister, etc. In 2016 the word ‘presumptive’ is bigly.
12. Texticate — Facebook, messaging, twitter, email … everything is reduced to text… the textication of the world as we know it.
13. Clintonworld — The private world of Hil and Bill where many of the laws of the political world seem to be suspended. Cf. Steve Job’s ‘reality distortion field’.
14. Trumpism — The emerging political philosophy of the presumptive Republican candidate,whatever that may be.
15. Tennessine — New element on the periodic table, with Atomic number 117 and the symbol Ts. Some wags say to honor Bluegrass, more likely the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Others under consideration a number of trending words that not yet meet the triple threshold test, but might qualify as the year further unfolds.
In December 2015, Austin, Texas-based GLM announced that Microaggression in its various manifestations was the Top Word of 2015.— The brief, everyday exchanges that send mostly unintended derogatory messages to members of various minority groups.
Related to the following terms:
Safe Space — In universities protecting students feelings by warning of subject matter that might elicit discomfit or distress.
Trigger — Any action that might elicit feelings of discomfit or distress.
Unsafe — The feelings a student encounters when without warning they are confronted with subject matter or situations that have elicited feelings of discomfit or distress.
Snowflake — What unconcerned students call those with the need for safe spaces and warnings about possible trigger events.
Migrant Crisis was the Top Phrase of 2015, while Donald J. Trump, was the surprise Top Name of 2015.
To see the Top Words of 2015, and the Top Words, Phrases, and Names of the 21st century go here.
The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.83 billion speakers (January 2013 estimate) GLM 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, the top 300,000 print and electronic global media, as well as new social media sources as they emerge.
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.
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