It's the time of the year when the media is full of stories about cats raising puppies, retrospectives of 2012 and - worst of all - dictionary publishers getting their annual fifteen minutes of fame with their 'word of the year'.
This year saw a couple of the worst choices ever. Not because they are bad words, but because they aren't freaking words at all.
The Australian National Dictionary Centre* (yes, there is such a thing - who knew?) chose 'green on blue' as their word of the year. While the Oxford American Dictionary went with 'GIF'.
Wait, what? Are we to understand that dictionary compilers can't tell the difference between a word (noun: a single distinct meaningful element of speech or writing, used with others (or sometimes alone) to form a sentence) a phrase (noun: a small group of words (see previous) standing together as a conceptual unit, typically forming a component of a clause) or even an acronym (noun: a word formed from the initial letters of other words)?
If I wanted to get all meta on their arses (as well as making a cool pop culture reference) I'd say 'I do not think that the word 'word' means what they think it means'. But I shall rise above that. Instead, here's a list of perfectly good existing English words that I think need more exposure. One of my New Year resolutions is to use all of them in my professional writing this year. They are:
misbegotten
insouciant
ne'er-do-well
shenanigans
woebegone
I think we'd all be richer for hearing those more often. Spread the word - but not the phrase or the acronym.
*Spelling finally corrected. Good eye Duffman.
