The Moment, Weaponize, Opioids; The Top Trending Words of 2018 for Global English

 

 

July 17, 2018, Austin, Texas — The Moment is the Top Trending Word of the Year (#WOTY) for 2018, in the latest global analysis by the Global Language Monitor.  Following The Moment are Weaponize, Opioids, North Korean Nukes, Woke, Family separation, Trade war, Fake news, Pyeong-Chang, and Represent.  The Top Ten are followed by Collusion, ICE,  World Cup, Twitter Storm / Tweet Rant, Churn (in Trump’s White House), Migrants (Worldwide), Fact Check, Volatility, Resistance, and Brexit (Soft or Hard Exit). 

This is the nineteenth consecutive survey since the turn of the century. (See Below.)  GLM began recording the Top Words of the Year (#WOTY) in the Year 2000 to document the history of the 21st century through Global English, the current Global Language.  (#Hashtags were not invented until 2007;  Twitter was the Top Word of 2009.)

“The Moment which traces back to Proto-Indo-European has undergone a number of significant shifts in meaning over the last four millennia.   From a cause of movement to an instant in time to variations of momentum and movement toward.  Today it represents a larger than life experience, the convergence of, perhaps, fame, fortune, and happenstance representing a time of excellence or conspicuousness.  More importantly, it can be seen as where we now stand in the evolution of the flow of information.” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst, Global Language Monitor.

“While news professionals were once terrified at the prospect of a 24-hour News Cycle, with the accompanying ‘Fifteen Minutes of Fame’, the flow of information has increased a thousandfold,  or more.” Payack continued.  “Now ‘having a moment’ means standing astride the apex, an instant when all stars and light must pass through your gravitational field  (or bend around it). It also has evolved from an instant to an indeterminate length”.

The Top Trending Words of 2018 for Global English:

1. The Moment — A confluence of fame, fortune, and happenstance.
2. Weaponize — In today’s bitterly partisan infighting, any word, action, or deed can and will be weaponized.
3. Opioids — 60,000 Americans or more will die this year from overdoses:  more than from the entire Vietnam War. every year.
4. North Korean Nukes — The threat appears to have subsided — for now.
5. Woke — Being awakened to the causes of social justice
6. Family separation — A worldwide challenge to the nuclear family.
7. Trade war — Mr Trump vs. the World, again.
8. Fake news — Analysts are now pushing the origin of fake news backwards into the past.
9. PyeongChang — The Winter Games turned out to be the most politically consequential in decades.
10. Represent — “Showing up” or ‘representing’ at ‘resistance’ activities.
11. Collusion — Collude’s etymology dates back to the early 1500s and literally means ‘to play together’ with no hint of the sinister undertones in the word’s present meaning.
12. ICE — The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security.
13. World Cup — The quadrennial, global celebration of football (The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup.)
14. Twitter Storm / Tweet Rant — President Trump early on realized that he had a direct connection to his sixty-million ‘followers’.
15. Churn (in Trump’s White House) — A turnover rate of close to 60% in the White House thus far.
16. Migrants (Worldwide) — Citizens have come to understand that national boundaries are quite malleable. 
17. Fact Check — By abandoning philosophy and the liberal arts, this generation actually believes that there is only one point of view and a single set of facts
18. Volatility — The global markets are volatile, the citizens are restless, and the Singularity is heading our way. 
19. Resistance — Those who resist and will mince no words in informing you …
20. Brexit (Soft or Hard Exit) — Nation-states are in a desperate race to save their national identities.

Previously, GLM announced that the Global English Word of the Year for 2017 was Truth, while the blood-soaked image of Omran Daqneesh, five-year-old, sitting in an ambulance while awaiting treatment in Allepo, Syria was the WOTY for 2016 (The first time a meme was chosen as a WOTY.)

Methodology:  The words are culled from throughout the English-speaking world, which now numbers more than 2.3 billion speakers (January 2018 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.

The Top Words, Phrases, and Names of the 21st century follow.

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 Truth, No. 2 Narrative, No. 3, #Resist
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 ApocalypseArmageddon, 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 Occupy, No.2 Fracking, No.3 Drone
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)

For More Information, go to LanguageMonitor.com or call 1.737.215.7750 or email info@LanguageMonitor.com.