In its annual vote, the American Dialect Society has chosen its Words of the Year:
- Political word of the year was “post-truth”, an era when opinion matters more than facts and reality.
- Digital word of the year was “@”, to use the @ symbol to respond on Twitter.
- Slang word of the year was “woke”, “socially aware or enlightened”.
- Most useful/most likely to succeed (combined categories from last year) was “gaslight”, subtly psychologically manipulating a person in a manner to make them question their sanity.
- Most creative was “laissez-fairydust”, using pure laissez faire economics as an economic cure-all and panacea.
- Euphemism of the year was “locker room banter”, crude, vulgar misogynist talk that harasses women.
- WTF word of the year was “Bigly”, in a notable way or important manner.
- Hashtag of the year was “#NoDAPL”, used to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline.
- Emoji of the year was the fire, essentially meaning important or hot.
And the Word of the Year is “Dumpster fire”, meaning a fast-progressing omnishambles that is a major disaster.
In a companion vote, the ADS’s sibling organization, the American Name Society, chose “Aleppo” as its Name of the Year.
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