Published January 9, 2005 in the Hibbing Daily Tribune
Each passing year brings something new. For many people, new things include bigger pants, more hats and a desire for music that’s not too hard and not too soft. For the English language, each year brings new words and new meanings for old words.
An online dictionary web site, YourDictionary.com, recently released its list of top words, phrases and slang for 2004. Laced throughout the top words and phrases was the heavy influence of last year’s political fervor, especially the terms Red State/Blue State.
If you’re familiar with political punditry, you’ve surely seen the talking heads on TV referencing Red (Republican) and Blue (Democrat) states. It all started innocently enough. Election nights always feature a big U.S. map, and they had to do something to tell the states apart. Hence the colors. However, in 2004, analysts started talking about the colors long before Election Night, using terms like “solid blue,” “red-leaning” and, more recently, “purple” to describe tossup states.
In fact, Newsweek even published cover story about how most Americans are really “purple” in their political ideology. (On a tangent, this reminds me of something someone says when they don’t want to sound racist: “I don’t care if they’re white, black, red, yellow or purple, so long as they stay off my lawn.” I guess that mysterious purple demographic was bigger than previously believed).
Other top 2004 words from YourDictionary.com included: “inCivility” (in reference to the “inCivil War” between conflicting “red” and “blue” ideologies); “Blogosphere” (to describe the realm of Internet web logs, or “’Blogs,” in directing political winds of change); “Fahrenheit” (from Michael Moore’s anti-Bush documentary); “flip-flop” (straight out of the GOP’s successful attack machine); and “liberal” (used as a pejorative by said attack machine).
The top YourDictionary.com phrases also included many political terms. It seems unfortunate for our society that all the phrases were related to attacks of one kind or another. For instance, “crippling national debt” and “unnecessary, poorly planned war” were not among the top phrases, but “angry liberal” was. Never mind that the “angry liberals” were generally most hopped up about the “crippling national debt” and “unnecessary, poorly planned war.” But, ce la vie. Let the historians sort that one out.
One of my favorite parts of the list is the top slang terms from 2004. This year’s batch includes: “Word!”; “Peace (or “Peace out”); “Proper”; “Hottie”; “What up?”; “Cool” (so old, it’s new); “Chillin’” (hey, isn’t that from the ‘90s?); and “Dope” (not drugs, but an adjective synonymous with “good”). Not to disparage the good men and women of YourDictionary.com, but it seems they spent more time last year converting word origins to HTML than they did on the streets with the youth of America. Don’t let it get you down, guys. I totally think your list is dope. Me and my posse would chill with you any time. Huzzah!
The list even boasted the top sports words or phrases, such as “reverse the curse” (in reference to the Boston Red Sox storied season) and “’roids” (in reference to the drugs that apparently turned a third of all baseball players into hulking creatures of the night).
Once again, YourDictionary.com named “OK” as the most spoken word on the planet. The authors didn’t name the #2 word, but I like to think it’s a three-way tie for second between “Git,” “Offa” and “Ma-prop-ar-tay!” Then again, I’ve been selling encyclopedias in Appalachia for the past several months.
At any rate, whether you’re blue, red or purple, “OK” is something we can all agree on. As we delve further into 2005, be sure to keep track of the changing language. It’s going to be dope. Peace out.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist for the Hibbing Daily Tribune.