Global Language Monitor Announces That ‘Covid’ is the Top Word of 2020

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.
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.

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.

Media Contact:

Paul JJ Payack
info@languagemonitor.com

pjjp@post.Harvard.edu

1 737.215.7750

Source: Global Language Monitor

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Categories: International News, General Interest

Tags: 2020, data research, Global Language Monitor, language, Top Words of the Year, trending, trends, WOTY2020

March 22, 2020June 1, 2020

REWIND from the ThoughtTopper Institute: The Battle Over Climate Climate Change Change Explained in Three Charts

Climate Change is an asteroid heading for a direct hit on Earth.

Updated: March 22, 2020

June 18-19, 2014, AUSTIN, Texas — The recent report on human-enhanced climate change points to the problem. The US National Climate Assessment, released May 6, 2014, represents the most comprehensive attempt yet to assess the current effects of human-enhanced climate change on America’s (and the Earth’s) future. Why does confusion persist about the subject? After all, Global Warming /Climate Change have ranked near the top of our Top Word lists for more than a decade.

Perhaps the major difficulty is overcoming the fact that:

Few news reporters are well-versed in technical and scientific communication.
Few scientists are well-versed in communicating effectively to a large public audience in non-scientific terms.
The public is not trained in deciphering the reams of information that presents the case that is being argued.

Therefore, lack of technical communication skills inhibit true understanding of climate change news. As a former university lecturer on Scientific and Technical Communications, I’ve created a few rules to keep close to heart.

Rule No. 1 When Communicating a Scientific Truth Be Sure to Communicate the Whole Truth — The audience instinctively knows when you are leaving out some of the story that you think might confuse the issue.

Well known Fact: The temperatures are now the highest in 1,000 years.

Larger Reality: The global surface temperature has fluctuated greatly over the last 2100 years. Scientific and Technical writing professionals would, one hopes, clarify the discussion by writing from the audience’s point-of-view. An educated audience would expect a phrase, such as ‘not in a thousand years’ to mean ‘not ever’. They would likely be concerned if they knew an author to be shading the truth that actually obscures the larger truth.

Suffice to say the global temperature has fluctuated greatly over the last 1200 years as shown in the graphic using four different sources. Also note there was the well-known historical fact of the Little Ice Age, with many early New England documents noting various ‘Year(s) Without Summer(s)”.

Temperature Fluctuation Over Preceding 1200 Years

Rule No. 2 Just because any particular analysis might be short-sighted, there is no need for you to be short-sighted also.

Well known Fact: Paleo-Indians crossed the Bering Land Bridge to first settle the Americas.

Larger Reality: For the Bering Land Bridge to exist, the sea level had to be about 100 meters (290 feet) LOWER than its current level.

The Bering Land Bridge About 15,000 BCE

The US National Climate Assessment is estimating a one-to-two meter rise by the turn of the 22nd century. Add in the human-enhancement factor and climate change will be even more dramatic (and possibly happen more quickly) than anticipated.

Rule No. 3 In 10,000 BCE, (8,000 BC), New York City was also under a mile (1.6 km) of ice. Jericho was a thriving (albeit small) city at this time. Most people who are aware of this fact, place it in the distant past, say, 1,000,000 years BCE.

Well known Fact (though not true): Climate Change began in the late 20th century OR with the advent of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century.

Larger Truth: Climate Change began with the advent of the atmosphere as we know it about 600 million years ago. This atmosphere enabled the ‘Cambrian Explosion’ as millions of life forms suddenly appeared on land.

The climate created by this atmosphere began to change at that time and continues to do so some 600,000,000 years later though we only have specific details of the last half-million years or so, as shown below.

These are a broad outline of temperature changes over the last 400,000 years as recorded by three different methods. Perhaps the most familiar is the Vostok Ice Core (Antarctica), drilled to a depth of 11,887 feet (3623 m) in 1998.

Conclusion: There are well-known facts that pale before a larger reality. Do not trim your arguments (whatever they be) to exclude the larger reality.

Well Known Fact: Climate Change is happening and its profound effect upon humankind is real. Human-influenced climate change is a new scientific reality

Larger Reality: Climate Change has a detailed in the scientific record for about 4oo,ooo years — and it has been ongoing for about 600,000,000 years.

What was the ongoing debate of our Paleoindian ancestors as they watched the megafauna (wooly mammoths, saber tooth tigers, etc.) disappear as the 5,000 ft (1.6 km) ice cap atop Manhattan melted away beneath their feet?

The Paleoindians had it within their power to preserve the megafauna if they had known the consequences of their overhunting. However, the retreating glacier, a consequence of global cooling, was beyond their control.

Today humankind faces the same two problems. And this time we have a bigger stake in the game. If the will is there, we can stop or at least alter the course of the Fourth Great Extinction. And if the will is there, we can curb at least the human-enhancement portion of climate change, whether or not the planet is subject to the larger, longer-term climatic cycles.

November 19, 2009November 28, 2017

Top Words of the Decade (2000-2009)

“Global Warming,” “9/11” and “Obama” are Top Words,

“Climate Change” is top phrase,

“Heroes” is top name

Austin, TX November 19, 2009 – The Global Language Monitor has announced the Top Words of the Decade, as part of its annual global survey of the English language. The Top Words were ‘Global Warming’, 9/11, and Obama followed by Bailout, Evacuee, and Derivative; Google, Surge, Chinglish, and Tsunami followed. “Climate Change” was the top phrase, while “Heroes” was the top name; bin-Laden was No. 2.

Read the the story in the London Telegraph

“Looking at the first decade of the 21st century in words is a sober, even somber, event.” said Paul JJ Payack, President of The Global Language Monitor. “For a decade that began with such joy and hope, the words chosen depict a far more complicated and in many ways, tragic time. Nevertheless, signs of hope and renewal can be found in the overall lists.”

The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 1.58 billion speakers. Since GLM’s survey encompassed the years 2000 - 2009, the expanded lists included 25 Top Words, and 20 Top Phrases and 20 Top Names.

To see the Top Words of the individual years of the 21st century, go here.

Each List contains the word, phrase or name in numerical order and the year when the word, phrase or name came to prominence. For example, the word ‘quagmire’ is hundreds of years old but it came into renewed prominence in 2004, about a year after the beginning of the Iraq War.

The Top Words of the Decade from 2000 – 2009

Word (Year) Comments

1. Global Warming (2000) Rated highly from Day One of the decade

2. 9/11 (2001) Another inauspicious start to the decade

3. Obama- (2008 )The US President’s name as a ‘root’ word or ‘word stem’

4. Bailout (2008) The Bank Bailout was but Act One of the crisis

5. Evacuee/refugee (2005) After Katrina, refugees became evacuees

6. Derivative (2007) Financial instrument or analytical tool that engendered the Meltdown

7. Google (2007) Founders misspelled actual word ‘googol’

8. Surge (2007) The strategy that effectively ended the Iraq War

9. Chinglish (2005) The Chinese-English Hybrid language growing larger as Chinese influence expands

10. Tsunami (2004) Southeast Asian Tsunami took 250,000 lives

11. H1N1 (2009) More commonly known as Swine Flu

12. Subprime ( 2007) Subprime mortgages were another bubble to burst

13. dot.com (2000) The Dot.com bubble engendered no lifelines, no bailouts

14. Y2K ( 2000) The Year 2000: all computers would turn to pumpkins at the strike of midnight

15. Misunderestimate (2002) One of the first and most enduring of Bushisms

16. Chad ( 2000) Those Florida voter punch card fragments that the presidency would turn aupon

17. Twitter (2008 ) A quarter of a billion references on Google

18. WMD (2002) Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction

19. Blog (2003) First called ‘web logs’ which contracted into blogs

20. Texting (2004) Sending 140 character text messages over cell phones

21. Slumdog (2008) Child inhabitants of Mumba’s slums

22. Sustainable (2006) The key to ‘Green’ living where natural resources are never depleted

23. Brokeback (2004) New term for ‘gay’ from he Hollywood film ‘Brokeback Mountain’

24. Quagmire (2004) Would Iraq War end up like Vietnam, another ‘quagmire’?

25. Truthiness (2006) Steven Colbert’s addition to the language appears to be a keeper

Also worth noting: ’Embedded’ (2003) to embed reporters with US Troops

The Top Phrases of the Decade from 2000 – 2009

Word (Year) Comments

1. Climate Change (2000) Green words in every form dominant the decade

2. Financial Tsunami (2008) One quarter of the world’s wealth vanishes seemingly overnight

3. Ground Zero (2001) Site of 9/11terrorist attack in New York City

4. War on Terror (2001) Bush administration’s response to 9/11

5. Weapons of Mass Destruction (2003) Bush’s WMDs never found in Iraq or the Syrian desert

6. Swine Flu (2008) H1N1, please, so as not to offend the pork industry or religious sensitivities!

7. “Let’s Roll!” (2001) Todd Beamer’s last words before Flight 93 crashed into the PA countryside

8. Red State/Blue State (2004) Republican or Democratic control of states

9. Carbon footprint (2007) How much CO² does an activity produce?

10. Shock-and-awe (2003) Initial strategy of Iraq War

11. Ponzi Scheme (2009) Madoff’s strategy reaped billions & heartache

12. Category Four (2005) Force of Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans’ seawalls and levies

13. King of Pop (2000) Elvis was the King, MJ the King (of Pop)

14. “Stay the Course” (2004) Dubya’s off-stated guidance for Iraq War

15. “Yes, we can!” (2008) Obama’s winning campaign slogan

16. “Jai Ho!” (2008) Shout of joy from ‘Slumdog Millionaire’

17. “Out of the Mainstream” (2003) Complaint about any opposition’s political platform

18. Cloud computing (2007) Using the Internet as a large computational device

19. Threat Fatigue (2004) One too many terrorist threat alerts

20. Same-sex marriage (2003) Marriage of gay couples

The Top Names of the Decade from 2000 – 2009

Name (Year) Comments

1. Heroes (2001) Emergency responders who rushed into the Towers

2. bin Laden (2001) His Capture still top of mind for US Military

3. Ground Zero (2001) NY Times still will not capitalize the site as a formal name

4. Dubya (2000) George W. Bush, US President No. 43

5. The Clintons (Hillary & Bill) (2000) Looming on political landscape, though not as large

6. John Paul II (2000) Largest funeral in TV history attested to power

7. Obama (2008) Making an impact as the decade ends

8. Taliban (2000) Still the source of Afghan insurgency

9. Katrina (2004) Hurricane whose destruction of New Orleans is seared into minds around globe

10. Tiger Woods (2000) Top golfer earned about $1 Billion this decade

11. iPhone (2007) First product on this list

12. Paul Hewson (Bono) (2000) U2 Front man, NY Times Columnist, catalyst for African relief

13. Michael Jackson (2000) The King of Pop

14. Al Gore (2000) Nobel Prize winner, US Vice President, Climate Change purveyor

15. Saddham Hussein (2000) Iraqi dictator captured while hiding in a ‘spider hole’

16. Enron (2001) Seems like another era since this giant fell

17. Bollywood (2000) Mumbai’s answer to Hollywood

18. Facebook (2007) Another ubiquitous software product

19. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005) Iranian president since 2005

20. Vladimir Putin (2000) Russian leader since 2000

Also worth noting: ’Wikipedia’ (2006) The user-generated compendium of all knowledge

The analysis was completed on November 16th using GLM’s Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), the proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, now including blogs and social media (such as Twitter). The words are tracked in relation to frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum, and velocity.

September 11, 2009November 28, 2017

Political Buzzwords Track Trajectory of Obama Presidency

Bailout, Climate Change, Birther, Healthcare Reform & Liberal at top

Obamamania and Politics of Change tumble as does Bush (as a Bogeyman)

Austin, Texas September 11, 2009 (Updated) – ‘Bailout’, ‘Climate Change’, ‘Birther’, ‘Health Care Reform’ and ‘Liberal’ were named the top political buzzwords since the Obama Inaugural. Rounding out the top ten were ‘recession’ (up some 1000% when linked to Obama), ‘Sarah Palin,’ the phrase ‘change you can believe in’ (down some 600% since the Inauguration), ‘AIG bonuses,’ and ‘Sotomayor,’ the new Supreme Court justice. Perhaps, even more striking is the manner in which signature buzzwords such as ‘Politics of change’ (No. 37) and ’Obamanania’ (No. 38) have tumbled. Another finding: the tactic of painting ‘Bush’ (No. 23) and, even, Cheney (No.28) as bogeymen is rapidly losing it effectiveness.

For the study, GLM used it proprietary algorithm, the Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) to track the frequency of words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the blogosphere and social media as well as accessing proprietary databases. The PQI is a weighted Index, factoring in: long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum, and velocity. The final list contains 40 words and phrases (see below).

“The top political buzzwords used since the Obama Inaugural show the sharp trajectory of his presidency,’ said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of The Global Language Monitor. “Our analysis differs from polls in that it is not what people say they think about various topics, but rather is a measurement of what words are actually being used and in which context.”

The Top Political Buzzwords since the Inaugural listes with rank and commentary follow.

Top Political Buzzwords September 1, 2009 Comment

Rank

1. Wall Street Bailout: Still resonates at very high score, no shrinkage

2. Climate Change Remains: One of the Top 3 — for several years3. Birther: Whatever it means, the issue looms large

4. Health Care Reform: Health Care Reform comes in at a strong No. 4

5. Liberal: This is not always a positive statement

6. Recession (linked to Obama): Obama’s link to recession up 1000% since inauguration

7. Sarah Palin: Fierce opposition to her, apparently adds to her allure

8. Change you can believe in: Down almost 60% from January peak

9. AIG (Post-bailout Bonuses): Bonuses after the Bailout still loom large in public mind

10. Sotomayor: Wise Latina gets more news than Iraq War

11. Iraq War: Fading from the public mind as Afghanistan advances

12. Socialism (linked with Obama): Painting Obama as a Socialist apparently working

13. Outrage (Linked with Obama & AIG: Outrage at AIG now linked to Obama administration

14. Public Option in HealthCare: Public Option still center of debate

15. Stimulus Package: Stimulus package still object of controversy

16. MObama (the Fashion Icon): Michelle Obama image as global fashion icon rising rapidly

17. Beer Summit with Gates & Cambridge Police: Beer Summit resonates with all things ‘racial’

18. Middle-class taxes: Concern is up about 170% since Inaugural

19. Current crisis as Depression: Citations down some 50% since January

20. Transparency: Idea of Transparency shrinking from view (down 30%)

21. Obama as a compromiser: Continues to gain traction

22. Rush Limbaugh: Rush bests the former president by only 5%

23. George Bush: Warning to Dems: Bush as Bogey man fading from view

24. Single Payer: Healthcare solution view as government intervention; Up over 800% since Obama took office

25. Death Panel: Up some 1500%, ranking only slightly ahead of Al Qaeda

26. Al qaeda: Still lurking in the public mind

27. Town Hall Meetings: Not to be easily dismissed

28. Dick Cheney: Former No. 2, now No. 28

29. Shovel Ready: Where are all the ‘shovel-ready’ jobs?

30. Global Financial Restructuring: This may take years to run its course

31. Iran election: On the periphery of American consciousness

32. Wise Latina: Short-term news bite, no lasting value

33. Financial meltdown: Down 85% since January as he the new reality sets in

34. Worst Recession: Not depression, but something different than a recession

35. Afghanistan: Troop build-up mostly a Beltway discussion

36. Wee weeing: According to Obama, Washington in late summer

37. Politics of change: Biz as usual sends this plummeting 60% from Inaugural

38. Obamamania: Yesterday’s news; down over 80% from Inaugural

39. Politics of fear: Within 1/2 of 1% of Obamamania

40. Nuclear Iran Drifting in and out of public consciousness

What’s the advantage of the PQI over the Polls?

The PQI is, perhaps, the ultimate ‘It is what it is’ measurement of consumer (and in this case Political) sentiment.

The PQI simply measures the occurrence of certain words or phrases in the print and electronic media (traditional or otherwise), on the Internet, and across the Blogosphere and social media, as well as accessing proprietary databases. It is by its very nature non-biased. When we take a statistical snapshot for the PQI there is no adjustment for ‘underrepresented’ groups, there are no assumptions about probability of turnout, the proportions of newly registered voters, traditional models, or expanded modularities. Rather, we take our measurements, check for the rate of positive or negative change in the appearance of a searched word or phrase (what we call velocity and momentum) and publish our results.

July 20, 2009November 28, 2017

Other Headlines

Is Merriam-Webster its own worst frenemy?

60% of new words in 2009 Collegiate were born before today’s college students

‘New’ words average age — 29 years

Austin, TX July 16, 2009, (MetaNewswire) – Is Merriam-Webster its own worst frenemy? The answer to that question can perhaps be answered by the upcoming release of its Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition with the addition of almost 100 new words and word meanings (or senses). The average of these “new words” is twenty-nine years, according to Merriam-Webster’s itself. [Read more.]

Analysis: Seismic Shift to Internet in the Reporting

.of News as Evidenced by Death of Michael Jackson

“The Death of Michael Jackson has become a case study in the growing disparity between the mainstream global media and their newer Internet incarnations,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor.

“The world has, indeed, witnessed a seismic shift in the reporting, analysis, and selection of news as evidenced by the recent death of Michael Jackson. In this regard, it appears as if the people have ‘voted with their clicks’ that the Internet is now an equal (if not senior) partner to the global print and electronic media.

London Telegraph: Michael Jackson’s Death Second Biggest Story of Century

The cyber-reporting of recent events in Iran only underscores this new (and growing) phenomenon.”

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Analysis: Michael Jackson funeral tops those of Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa

Measured Global Print and Electronic Media from Day of Death to Day after Funeral

.

Austin, TX July 9, 2009– In an exclusive analysis performed by the Global Language Monitor, the death of Michael Jackson, the entertainment icon, has been found to be the Top Funeral in the Global Print and Electronic Media over the last dozen years . Jackson moved ahead of Pope John Paul II, whose funeral in 2005 previously set the standard.

The results follow:

Michael Jackson, June 25 – July 8, 2009
Pope John Paul II, April 2 – April 9, 2005
Ronald Reagan, June 5 – June 10, 2004
Mother Teresa, September 5 – September 14, 1997
Princess Diana, August 31 – September 7, 1997

The death, aftermath, and funeral of Michael Jackson had some 18% more stories in the global print and electronic media than that of Pope John Paul II in 2005. The analysis covered the Top 5,000 print and electronic media sites, but excluded blogs and social media since they did not have a significant presence throughout the entire period of measurement.

“The death of Michael Jackson, and the media frenzy surrounding of its aftermath and his funeral, has moved Michael Jackson to the forefront of coverage of similar prominent deaths over the last dozen years,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of GLM. Other prominent passings include those of Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. “The strength (and depth) of the global media coverage only adds to his already significant legacy and shows no sign of abetting.”

When measured in terms total web presence, Jackson outdistances Ronald Reagan, at No. 2, by more a factor of 10.

The results follow:

Michael Jackson, died in 2009
Ronald Reagan, died in 2004
Pope John Paul II, died in 2005
Princess Diana, died in 1997
Mother Teresa, died in 1997

Jackson Joins yet another Hall of Fame

Michael Jackson Death No. 2 Internet Story of 21st Century

Internet No. 2 (to Obama’s Election); Mainstream Media Ranking No.9

Austin, TX June 29, 2009 (MetaNewswire) - The death of Michael Jackson, the entertainment icon, is now one of the top stories of the 21st century, according to a analysis released by the Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com). In the 72 hours after his death, Jackson jumped to the No. 9 spot for the global print and electronic media. For Internet, blogs and social media, Jackson jumped to the No.2, only trailing the election of Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States. The results showed the growing disparity between the mainstream global media, and what is playing out for news on the Internet, and beyond.

The citations for Michael Jackson in the Mainstream Media numbered in the thousands; his citations on the Internet, and beyond numbered in the millions. The analysis tracked news stories within the first seventy-two hours after the event. The events include in descending order of Internet citations include: The Obama election, the death of Michael Jackson, the Iraq War, the Beijing Olympics, the Financial Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the death of Pope John Paul II, the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks and the Asian Tsunami.

Citations for the election of Barack Obama are five times greater than that of No. 2, Michael Jackson. In turn, the death of Michael Jackson is cited more than double than those for the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.

“The death of Michael Jackson has resulted in a global media event of the first order” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of GLM. “The fact that he has broken into the top media events of the 21st century is a testament to the global impact of the man and his music.”

Mainstream Global Media			Internet, Blogs & Social Media
Rank	Story	Year	Rank	Story	Year
1	Obama	2008	1	Obama	2008
2	Hurricane Katrina	2005	2	Michael Jackson	2009
3	Financial Tsunami	2008	3	Iraq War	2003
4	Iraq War	2003	4	Beijing Olympics	2008
5	9/11 Terrorist Attacks	2001	5	Financial Tsunami	2008
6	Beijing Olympics	2008	6	Hurricane Katrina	2005
7	Pope John Paul II	2005	7	Pope John Paul II	2005
8	S. Asian Tsunami	2005	8	9/11 Terrorist Attacks	2001
9	Michael Jackson	2009	9	S. Asian Tsunami	2005

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Linguists Fret as the World Celebrates Global English

There are 10,000 other stories hailing the arrival of the 1,000,000th word from Abu Dhabi, and Tehran, to Beijing, to Sydney, to Chicago and Sri Lanka.

‘Millionth English word’ declared

A US web monitoring firm has declared the millionth English word to be Web 2.0, a term for the latest generation of web products and services.

Matt Frei reports on English’s unique linguistic evolution and then spoke to Global Language Monitor’s Paul Payack who helped find this millionth English word.