Linguists Foolishly Place Apps Above Cookies [Blockquote]

After what need to have been a passionate debate, the yankee Dialect Society has deemed ” app” the 2010 Word of the Year , beating out Cookie Monster’s ” nom.” It appears like we want to get our consumption priorities straight.

Yes, in keeping with the experts, 2010 was the year of the ” app,” which I suppose doesn’t seem altogether unreasonable. I certainly heard it used lots, and said it tons myself. And with the brand new introduction of the Mac App Store, the dominion of the ” app” has expanded even further, creeping from our phones to our desktops. Apps are here to stay. Get used to it.

But what did ” apps” muscle out? Here’s what the AP wrote in regards to the Dialect Society’s decision:

” Nom” – a chat-, tweet-, and text-friendly syllable that connotes ” yummy food” – was the runner-up. It derives from the Sesame Street character’s sound as he devours his favorite food.

The vote came at a Pittsburgh hotel ballroom through the national conference of the Linguistic Society of America, an umbrella group that incorporates the Dialect Society. About 120 of the 1,000 conference attendees voted inside the ” competition” with neither side entirely satisfied.

Critics of ” app” said the word was somewhat stale, while proponents said 2010 was the year the word became omnipresent – with one arguing that her elderly mother knows the term, despite the fact that the lady doesn’t have any apps.

” Nom” supporters simply liked it’s cheeriness.

I’d also point out that ” nom” is a popular verb for describing the mindless act of eating unique to zombies, which also had a boom year in 2010.

Tech terms are usually awarded the Word of the Year distinction: ” tweet” was last year’s winner, ” millenium bug” took the prize in 1997 and an easy ” e,” as in ” email,” won in 1998. And while it’s not necessarily surprising that ” app” ended up last year’s winner, it should’ve been nice if ” nom” had gotten its due, if something as simple as chowing down on a snack might be recognized as a tremendous section of our cultural moment, although the word describing it really is tweet- and text-friendly. [ AP via DF ]

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This post is tagged: conference attendees, linguistic society of america, passionate debate, pittsburgh hotel, sesame street character