books
‘Culture’ gets nod as Merriam-Webster’s 2014 word of the year
A list of previous words of the year on Merriam-Webster’s website. This year’s word is ‘culture’. – Merriam Webster screenshot, December 16, 2014.Whether popular, corporate or entitled, "culture" was named word of the year by US dictionary Merriam-Webster yesterday as a flexible catch-all that can easily identify a subject, idea or issue.
Merriam-Webster defines culture as the beliefs, customs and arts of a "society, group, place or time." The word was buoyed by media coverage about "celebrity culture," "company culture" and "rape culture" dominating media and public conversations, the dictionary publisher said.
It was chosen for its large amount of online lookups and significant increase in lookups from last year, Merriam-Webster said. The publisher said the word usually spikes in fall when students return to school.
Culture beat out nostalgia, insidious and legacy for word of the year, as all received significant media references in relation to politics, film, sports and the deadly Ebola virus outbreak.
British rival, the Oxford English Dictionary, chose "vape" – the act of drawing on an electronic cigarette – as its word of 2014. The dictionary tends to choose neologisms that gain mass usage.
Last year, Merriam-Webster's word of the year was “science” while “socialism” and “capitalism” shared the 2012 honour. – Reuters, December 16, 2014.
Please note that you must sign up with disqus.com before commenting. And, please refrain from comments of a racist, sexist, personal, vulgar or derogatory nature and note that comments can be edited, rewritten for clarity or to avoid questionable issues. As comments are moderated, they may not appear immediately or even on the same day you posted them. We also reserve the right to delete off-topic comments