It’s Word of the Year time, and there are more words than ever before.

We bring you the results from the yearly American Dialect Society vote, and from dictionaries around the world on this episode of Talk the Talk.


Listen to this episode

Download this episode

You can listen to all the episodes of Talk the Talk by pasting this URL into your podlistener.

http://danielmidgley.com/talkthetalk/talk_classic.xml

Promo

TtT promo with Tom Reynolds, 2019-01-28: WotY2019

Talk the Talk is back and Tom and Daniel are up for a chat.

Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/ttt-promo-2019-33513355


Leave That In!

Leave That In! 391: WotY2019

Some other words that didn’t make it to the main show. In fact, so many words, Ben can hardly remember them!

Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/leave-that-in-33900193


Reflections on 391: Words of the Year 2019

Welcome to… Reflections. 🎹

This one was a Ben and Daniel episode, and our first one of the year. Hedvig is out of action for a bit while she’s submitting her thesis, so we’ll be covering for her for as many episodes as she needs.

It was SO GOOD to be chatting with Ben! I always enjoy our talks, he has such a great sense of humour, and over the years we’ve developed a rhythm to our banter. I really loved getting back into that with him.

We were talking about the Word of the Year vote from the American Dialect Society, which is an event we’ve been covering for years, whether I’ve actually attended or not. I like starting the year this way, as it’s kind of a gentle way of getting back into the show schedule. The show isn’t too hard to prepare for, and it’s really fun to talk about.

I turned it into a bit of a game, where I would read Ben the nominated words, we’d talk about them, and then Ben would have to guess which one he thought had won in each category. He did amazingly. But you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out which ones he got right and which ones he missed.

A really good start to the year. I’m looking forward to this season’s shows. Thanks for supporting us! You keep us talking.

Daniel

Also at https://www.patreon.com/posts/33464089


Patreon supporters

We’re very grateful for the support from our burgeoning community of patrons, including

  • Adie
  • Carolin
  • Chris
  • Lyssa
  • Kate
  • Termy
  • Bob
  • Kristofer
  • Matt
  • Andrew
  • Kitty
  • Lord Mortis
  • Helen
  • Binh
  • Jack
  • Damien
  • Dustin
  • Larry
  • Michael
  • Whitney
  • Gilles

You’re helping us to keep the talk happening!

We’re Because Language now, and you can become a Patreon supporter!
Depending on your level, you can get bonus episodes, mailouts, shoutouts, come to live episodes, and of course have membership in our Discord community.

Become a Patron!

Show notes

‘Upcycling’ crowned Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of Year 2019 | Mirage News
https://www.miragenews.com/upcycling-crowned-cambridge-dictionary-s-word-of-year-2019/

2019’s word of the year is ‘climate strike’
https://mashable.com/article/word-of-the-year-2019-climate-strike/

Oxford Names ‘Climate Emergency’ Its 2019 Word of the Year
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/arts/word-of-the-year-climate-emergency.html

Watch: ‘Climate emergency’ is 2019 Oxford Word of the Year – Lowvelder
https://lowvelder.co.za/518321/watch-climate-emergency-2019-oxford-word-year/

Word of the Year 2019 | They | Merriam-Webster
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/word-of-the-year

‘They’ named as Merriam-Webster dictionary’s word of the year – CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/10/americas/merriam-webster-they-word-year-scli-intl/index.html

Opinion: Using ‘they’ as singular pronoun goes back to 14th century – Los Angeles Times
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2019-12-15/they-singular-grammar-transgender-history

‘Voice’ is 2019 word of the year says Australian National Dictionary Centre
https://thewest.com.au/news/australia/voice-is-2019-word-of-the-year-says-australian-national-dictionary-centre-ng-b881405586z

Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year for 2019 is ‘existential’, and same
https://mashable.com/article/dictionary-com-word-of-the-year-2019-existential/

Cancel culture is the Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year for 2019
https://www.smh.com.au/culture/books/cancel-culture-is-the-macquarie-dictionary-s-word-of-the-year-for-2019-20191202-p53fzy.html

‘Cancel culture’ is Macquarie Dictionary’s word of the year… but what is it?
https://www.3aw.com.au/cancel-culture-is-macquarie-dictionarys-word-of-the-year-but-what-is-it/

Taiwan people pick “chaos” as word of the year – Xinhua | English.news.cn
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-12/07/c_138613585.htm

English word ‘Boomer’ is voted Dutch word of the year – DutchNews.nl
https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2019/12/english-word-boomer-is-voted-dutch-word-of-the-year/

“Trapped” voted word of 2019 across Taiwan Strait – Xinhua | English.news.cn
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-12/15/c_138632932.htm

In an age of shifting attitudes about gender identity, ‘they’ was the word of the decade – Chicago Sun-Times
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/1/9/21058633/nonbinary-gender-identity-my-pronouns-american-dialect-society-linguistics-they-conversation

Nominations for Words of the Year 2019 and Words of the Decade 2010-2019 American Dialect Society
https://www.americandialect.org/nominations-for-words-of-the-year-2019-and-words-of-the-decade-2010-2019
(PDF) https://www.americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2019-WOTY-nominations.pdf

(PDF) 2019 Word of the Year is “(My) Pronouns,” Word of the Decade is Singular “They” as voted by American Dialect Society
https://www.americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2019-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf

The Unstoppable Rise of the Zaddy
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/04/t-magazine/zaddy.html

What is a ‘Zaddy?’ | Merriam-Webster
https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/zaddy-daddy-origin-meaning-rap

A Tennessee movie theater marquee changes ‘Hellboy’ to ‘Heckboy’ – CNN
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/04/26/us/heckboy-hellboy-tennessee-theater-trnd/index.html

What is the “hot girl summer” meme? – Vox
https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/7/12/20690515/hot-girl-summer-meme-define-explained

Nobody: | Know Your Meme
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/nobody

Understanding Non-Binary People: How to Be Respectful and Supportive | National Center for Transgender Equality
https://transequality.org/issues/resources/understanding-non-binary-people-how-to-be-respectful-and-supportive

Do you suffer from gluckschmerz?
https://confident1.com/do-you-suffer-from-gluckschmerz


Transcript

We’re working our way back through the archives. If you think we should prioritise a transcript of this episode, let us know!