With a hat tip to Annie Lowrey of Slate, check out the winner of Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2010:
Topping the list is austerity, defined as “enforced or extreme economy.” Lookups for austerity peaked dramatically several times throughout the year, as people’s attention was drawn to global economic conditions and the debt crises in Europe, but lookups also remained strong throughout the year, reflecting widespread use of the word in many contexts. “Austerity clearly resonates with many people,” said Peter Sokolowski, Editor at Large at Merriam-Webster, who monitors online dictionary searches. “We often hear it used in the context of government measures, but we also apply it to our own personal finances and what is sometimes called the new normal.”
It was followed immediately by pragmatic, moratorium, socialism.
If FT Alphaville had to make a list of its own weird-word usage in 2010, we would nominate the following:
– Emergification
– Deflationista, Inflationista
– QEasy
– Arbitrasel
– Quantitative tightening
– Risk-on/risk-off
– Markets Live word of the year: Muppets
We would also change a few geographical definitions to reflect the shifting landscape of 2010′s sovereign, euro, and European banking crises. Specifically:
Greece = Ireland
Ireland = Portugal
Portugal = Spain
and …
Drachmark = Europeseta = euro
The eurozone, of course, gave wordsmiths a rich variety of other sovereign debt-related euphemisms and buzzwords in 2010. Expect some of these to continue ruling the airwaves well into next year.
Burden-sharing (sounds better in the original German)
Bail-ins
Liability Management
Haircuts
Forbearance
Too Big to Bail
Any others? We’ll update the list with the better ones.