Published January 6, 2008 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune

A 'surge' of 'hybrids' last year

By Aaron J. Brown

With politics in full swing after last week’s Iowa caucuses and next week’s New Hampshire primary, it’s easy to overload on words right now. Candidates pour words aplenty upon the voters, some true, some truish, some true lite, and the rest regular old false. But while people sometimes distort the truth, words themselves don’t lie. That’s why the nonprofit Global Language Monitor releases a list of top words, expressions and other linguistic notables each year. Often the best way to understand a year is to explore the words that were invented or used most often during that time.

This year, GLM declared “hybrid” to be the top word of 2006. The word encompasses the entire environmental trend toward cleaner energy and transit including all the green movement’s offshoots, some with merit and some without. The GLM makes a clever observation that the word “hybrid” owes its origins to the Latin “hybrida,” which means “offspring of a sow and wild boar.” I’m not sure if the Romans could have imagined that one day their word would be used for semi-electric cars driven mostly to justify their owners’ large suburban homes and giant TVs. On the other hand, the GLM’s top 2007 phrase, “climate change,” shows why “hybrid” is on the map.

Though “hybrid” may indeed belong to the greening of America now, I think it’s a true word of our time. It seems every time something becomes combined with something else, some punk with his cell phone clipped to his belt is standing in the background to say, “Wow, that’s hybridization!” Thanks to that guy and a million of his friends whenever I hear the word “hybrid” I have to ask myself, “Do they mean a hybrid online college course, a hybrid car or a freaking flower?”

The word “surge” fell just short of “hybrid” on the GLM list, referring to the political strategy of infusing more U.S. troops into the most troublesome portions of Iraq. The word was, you recall, a political hot point as both war supporters and opponents cited it during debate last spring. But you may have noticed that even since then the word mutated to become a blanket verb used in almost any political conversation. “What we really need is a surge of awareness about poverty,” one politician might say. “Oh no you di’int,” another might respond (well, maybe). “We need a surge of wall building wallmakers to build a giant wall to keep out the surge of illegal aliens.”

One thing is for certain, we don’t need a “surge” of Surge™, the defunct caffeinated beverage released by Coca-Cola in 1996 to compete with the hyperactive monolith called Mountain Dew. Surge has the dubious distinction of being the first major new product whose advertising not only made American youth more stupid but also failed in its purpose. Remember, I’m talking about Surge the pop, not “the surge.” The “surge” is going quite well, according to the government. (But, to be fair, that’s what Coke said about “Surge” until they airlifted the last 12-pack off the roof of the embassy).

Other words from the list show the times. There’s “bubble” in honor of the housing bubble, which popped. “Smirting” means flirting with people when you have to go outside to smoke. I used to smoke, and it seems all the other smokers outside had beards, most of them being men. No smirting. (Ha, I kid, but seriously the cute ones had baggage. Big time). 

Two other notables included “Pb” the symbol for lead on account of the lead paint scare and “ideating,” to come up with ideas, which is another in the ridiculous series of words that turn abstract nouns into verbs. So, in honor of “ideating,” I’ll finish “columnizing” and start “suppering” on a “cheeseburgizza.” Don’t ask. It’s a hybrid.

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