The 2012 Word of the Year Was Hashtag
The word of the year is hashtag. #Hashtag, a word someone also dared to name a baby in 2012 ... so, I guess that cements it. In a final vote of 118 to 99 in a runoff against marriage equality (winner of "Most Likely to Succeed"), at the annual Word of the Year event held by the American Dialect Society, hashtag took it home. A round of applause for the word lover's version of the Academy Awards. That was exciting!
#woty12 Final WotY voting list: YOLO, fiscal cliff, #hashtag, Gangnam style, marriage equality, 47 percent
— Am. Dialect Society (@americandialect) January 4, 2013
There were other wins, too, as there were a number of categories with nominations in each also up for votes. According to the results tweeted by the @AmericanDialect Society, here are the category winners, along with their competition (additions to our earlier list of finalists were nominated from the floor):
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MOST USEFUL WINNER: In a runoff with YOLO, -(po)calypse, -(ma)geddon nabbed it, 115-62.
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Also nominated: beardruff hate-watching
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MOST CREATIVE WINNER: gate lice, after a runoff with mansplaining (93-90)
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Also nominated: alpacalypse dancelexia
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MOST UNNECESSARY WINNER: legitimate rape, 94 votes
Also nominated: Frankenstorm HD feels
MOST OUTRAGEOUS WINNER: legitimate rape, 156 votes
Also nominated: Dunlop effect slut-shaming butt-chugging
MOST EUPHEMISTIC WINNER: self-deportation, 142 votes
Also nominated: disruptive Gray Thursday ratchet evolution
MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED WINNER: marriage equality, 156 votes
Also nominated: fiscal cliff superstorm MOOC big data
LEAST LIKELY TO SUCCEED WINNER: YOLO and phablet, 91-92
#woty12 Within the margin of error, thus co-winners! "phablet" and "YOLO" are Least Likely to Succeed
— Am. Dialect Society (@americandialect) January 4, 2013
Also nominated: cray-cray Gangnam style Windows Metro meggings
ELECTION WORDS WINNER: Binders full of women, 107 votes
Also nominated: 47 percent Etch-a-Sketch Eastwooding Romney/Obama malarkey
#woty12 "binders full of women", despite being not lexicalized, is the Election Word of the Year
— Am. Dialect Society (@americandialect) January 4, 2013
