“Truth” is Top Word of the Year 2017 by The Global Language Monitor

 

The Only Analysis for Global English Worldwide

18th annual analysis by the Global Language Monitor

“Weinstein Effect” (and #MeToo) is the Top Phrase and Xi Jinping is the Top Name of 2017

 

 Recently, The Global Language Monitor (GLM) announced that Truth is the Word of the Year for 2017.

• To See the Top Words, Phrases, and Names of 2017, click here

• A Brief Retrospective on the Nature of Truth and Why It Confuses Us So

• To Read How GLM’s Top Words of the Year Record the History of the 21st Century, Thus Far, click here.

• To Learn What the Top Words of the First Fifteen Years of the 21st c. Portend for the Rest of the Century, click here.

 

For Immediate Release,

For More Information, call 001.512.801.6823 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com.

December 2017,  Austin, Texas (Updated) – Truth has been named the 2017 Word of the Year for Global English (#WOTY2017) by the Global Language Monitor, in its eighteenth annual global analysis. In addition, the Weinstein Effect has been named the Top Phrase and Chinese leader Xi Jingping the Top Name of 2017.  Following ‘Truth’ were the words Narrative, Opioids, Awoke, and Nuclear Option.  Rounding out the Top Ten were Deep State, Robot Apocalypse, Higher Level of Fake News, Blessee, and Lean Into. 

“Since the turn of the century, the Global Language Monitor has been naming the words of global English that have had the most profound influence upon the language, the culture, and/or the world of the 21st century,” said Paul JJ Payack, President, and Chief Word Analyst.  GLM ‘s methodology, true to its Silicon Valley heritage, is 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.”

GLM tracks the top trending words three times during the year before the final assessment is released at year end.  Below are the Global Language Monitor’s 2017 Words of the Year for Global English.

 

Global Language Monitor’s 2017 Top Words of the Year for Global English

Rank, Word, Previous Rank, Definition 

1. Truth (1) — Let’s face it.  The conversation is all about truth, or lack thereof.
2. Narrative (2) — As GLM noted in ’08, Narratives began replacing facts in politics; a harbinger to ‘fake news’.
3. Opioids (10) — More deaths than gun violence and automobiles crashed combined.
4. Post-Truth (16) — Objective facts are less influential than appeals to emotion or the prevailing narrative.
5. Woke (New) — Awakening to issues of social and racial justice.
6. Brexit (4) — [United Kingdom] Definition according to Theresa May:  “Brexit means Brexit”.
7. Blessee (New) — [RSA, South Africa] Those who are shown financial favor through a ‘Sugar Daddy’ (New)
8. Non-binary (13) — Gender identity defined as neither male nor female.
9. Anthropocene (15) — The current geological time period where human activities have had a major environmental impact on the Earth.
10. Latinx (11) — Neologism for the Hispanic heritage of any stripe.
11. Ransomware (New) — A type of malware where targeted sites are ‘captured’ and rendered useless until a ransom is paid to the hackers.
12. Tradie (New) — [Australia] Short for any worker in the trades:  tradesmen, e.g., electricians (sparkies), truckers (truckies), chippies (carpenter) and the like.
13. Flip (New) — Any quick financial transact5on meant to turn a quick profit, particularly involving real estate.
14. Covfefe — The Trumpian Typo Heard ‘Round the world.
15. #Resist — From Latin resistere, from re- + sistere to take a stand
16. Appropriation (Cultural) — Now refers to the exploitation of an ‘ethnic’ culture by those of white European heritage.

Missed the Cut and former rank: Antifa (18), Alt-right (17), Bigly (5), and Populism (19)

 

Global Language Monitor’s 2017 Top Phrases of the Year for Global English

Rank, Word, Previous Rank, Definition Weinstein Effect (New) — (#MeToo) Emboldened women across the globe confront those who have been abused them in their past.

1. Weinstein Effect (and #MeToo) (New) — Emboldened women across the globe confront those who have been abused them in their past.
2. Nuclear Option (7) — The use of nuclear weapons by either side in the on-going and decades-long North Korean standoff.
3. Deep State (New) — The idea that entrenched bureaucracies, beholden to no one, controlling the ship of state with little concern for elected officials.  In effect, a ‘Shadow’ government
4. For Real (FR) (New) — [Indian] It took a half a century for the hip lingo of Venice Beach to proliferate to the call centers of India as FR.
5. Robot Apocalypse (New) — The oncoming usurpation of Humankind by robots and other advanced forms of Artificial Intelligence.
6. Fake News (New) — A higher level (and far more dangerous method controlling the news) through special relationships, the tight control of events, planting sources, and keeping the actual facts to a tight inner circle.
7. Lean Into (New) — Being totally committed (or lean into) a cause, an initiative, or career choice.
8. Non-binary (13) — Gender identity defined as neither male nor female.
9. Memory Care (14) — Euphemism for treating Alzheimer and other forms of dementia
10. Cultural Appropriation — Now refers to the exploitation of an ‘ethnic’ culture by those of white European heritage.

Missed the Cut and former rank: Alt-right (17), Dumpster Fire (9), Nuclear Option for US Senate (6), and Safe Place (20).

 

Global Language Monitor’s 2017 Top Names of the Year

Rank, Name

1. Xi Jinping — General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
2. Donald J. Trump — President of the United States of America; Trump took the Top Honors in 2016 and 2015.
3. Pope Francis — Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, the Bishop of Rome, and sovereign of Vatican City.
4. Angela Merkel — Angela Dorothea Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
5. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin — President of Russia
6. Theresa May — P)rime Minister of the United Kingdom
7. Kim Jung Un — North Korean Strongman
8. Narendra Modi — Prime Minister of India
9. Donald Tusk — President of the European Commission
10. Shinzō Abe — Prime Minister of Japan
11. Justin Trudeau — Prime Minister of Canada
12. Hurricane Harvey and Maria — Hurricanes that devastated Houston and Puerto Rico, respectively