Did You Use Any of the Words of 2009?

January 9, 2010 by Rita Marshall 

If you used Twitter or Facebook at all last year, you’re probably familiar with the newest additions to the Oxford Dictionary.

“Unfriend” was the word of the year, while “Tweetup” was a runner-up.

They weren’t all techie terms, though. My non-social media favourites include:

- zombie bank: a bank that only continues to operate because of a bailout

- phantonym: a noun that looks like it means one thing, but actually means another. As in, “fulsome” sounds like it should mean “really full”, when it actually means “excessive to the point of insincerity”.

The threat of phantonyms to the English language is of small concern, however, when PC World makes this observation about two other 2009 additions to the language:

“”Freemiums” and “Paywalls” demonstrate that the world of free internet access may be under particular attack in 2010.”

The disappearance of free Internet access should give rise to some colourful new additions to the Oxford Dictionary in 2010.