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Appendix:American Dialect Society most outrageous words of the year

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The following are recognized words from the American Dialect Society as most outrageous word of the year. 2015 was the last year in which this category was voted on.

See also the American Dialect Society official website.

List

[edit]
Year Most Outrageous Word of the Year Notes
1990 politically correct, PC "Sentiments and expressions of this inaccurate kind prevail in our common, even in our convivial, language. Is a toast asked? 'The United States', instead of the 'People of the United States', is the toast given. This is not politically correct."[1]
1992 ethnic cleansing "NATO said Tuesday there is a Serb-led ethnic 'cleansing campaign' in Kosovo that has reached 'new heights,' with 118,000 ethnic Albanians forced to flee their homes within the past week."[2]
1993 whirlpooling "In dozens of separate 'whirlpooling' incidents, groups of teenage boys surrounded a girl in the water, tore off her swimsuit top and then grabbed her breasts."[3]
1995 starter marriage "A starter marriage is one where the couple marries young and gets divorced before the arrival of the first child — and usually before the arrival of the first wrinkle. Starter marriages are more common among overachievers.".[4]
1996 toy soldier land mine[5]
1997 Florida flambe "Medina was killed, then cooked, becoming the second inmate in seven years to suffer the Florida flambe'."[6]
1998 Ejaculation Proclamation "And we now have a title to Clinton's speech to the nation last Monday night: The 'Ejaculation Proclamation.' “[7]
1999 humanitarian intervention "We may be in the middle of a process in which some fundamental ideas or norms about international politics are being transformed, and the increasing willingness to consider humanitarian intervention may be part of this evolution."[8]
2000 wall humping "I saw once an interesting case: A very short girl did wall humping against a door at Fraunhofer institute. She was so short that she had to actually jump 30 cm up in the air, and bang her crotch against the scanner."[9]
2001 assoline fuel comprised of methane.[10]
2002 neuticles "Her husband refused to have the dog neutered unless neuticles were implanted, and the wife complied."[11]
2003 cliterati "Its first meeting, held at Eve Ensler's apartment, was a who's who, as Cuomo puts it, of "the New York cliterati," including Urvashi Vaid, Laura Flanders, Sarah Schulman and other notables."[12]
2004 santorum "In the “for what it's worth" department, the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex is called santorum. Safety Warning #6: Be particularly cautious where this santorum goes. As previously noted, you don't want to get any fecal matter in the vaginal area. Bad safety risk."[13]
2005 crotchfruit “My patients read so much shit they think they can't make a crotch fruit after they turn thirty[.]"[14]
2006 Cambodian accessory "Much like how crusading for heart disease doesn't have as much cachet as crusading for HIV, or if you adopt a Cambodian child and then string it to your wine 'n' cheese exurb inbred soiree that's your unique Cambodian accessory that few other people can afford."[15]
2007 toe-tapper "It was nice to use the public restroom at the Hillary event. I didn't have to worry about a republican toe-tapper being in the next stall."[16]
2008 terrorist fist jab "In hindsight, I regret not giving him a terrorist fist jab or the Islamist secret handshake. I hear he's quite adept at those."[17]
2009 death panel "Santorum also took aim at the inclusion of boards that judge the effectiveness of health treatments: "Someone referred to these types of boards as 'death panels,'" Santorum said, according to TPM."[18]
2010 gate rape "Now, some women's advocates are referring to the situation as "Gate Rape" and speaking out against incidents like these so that other women don't have to endure the same humiliation."[19]
2011 assholocracy "We are living, he observed, in the age of the assholocracy. He's right, you know."[20]
2012 legitimate rape type of rape that Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin claimed rarely results in pregnancy
2013 underbutt
2014 second-amendment to kill (someone) with a gun, used ironically by gun control supporters
2015 fuckboy, fuckboi derogatory term for a man who behaves objectionably or promiscuously

See also

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References

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  1. ^ 1793, U.S. Supreme Court, Chisholm v State of GA, 2 US 419 (1793)
  2. ^ “NATO: 'New heights' of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo”, in CNN‎[1], edition.cnn.com, 1999 March 30
  3. ^ Jeff Wiltse (2007) Contested Waters: A Social History of Swimming Pools in America, The University of North Carolina Press, page 212: “"In dozens of separate 'whirlpooling' incidents, groups of teenage boys surrounded a girl in the water, tore off her swimsuit top and then grabbed her breasts."”
  4. ^ Cooper Lawrence (2008) The Cult of Perfection: Making Peace with Your Inner Overachiever, skirt!, page 212: “"A starter marriage is one where the couple marries young and gets divorced before the arrival of the first child — and usually before the arrival of the first wrinkle. Starter marriages are more common among overachievers.".”
  5. ^ John Carpenter (1997 January 4) “Linguists call `soccer mom' tops for 1996”, in Chicago Sun-Times, page 20
  6. ^ Pitts, Leonard (1997 April 5) “The Death Penalty: No Execution is Ever 'Humane'”, in Star-News
  7. ^ basch (1998 August 19) “An look at the speech”, in alt.rush-limbaugh‎[2]: “And we now have a title to Clinton's speech to the nation last Monday night: The "Ejaculation Proclamation."”
  8. ^ Keith L. Shimko (2010) International Relations: Perspectives and Controversies, Wadsworth Cengage, page 252: “We may be in the middle of a process in which some fundamental ideas or norms about international politics are being transformed, and the increasing willingness to consider humanitarian intervention may be part of this evolution.”
  9. ^ JanneJalkanen (2004 April 27) “New words”, in ecyrd.com‎[3]: “I saw once an interesting case: A very short girl did wall humping against a door at Fraunhofer institute. She was so short that she had to actually jump 30 cm up in the air, and bang her crotch against the scanner.”
  10. ^ Susan Yerkes (2002 February 3) “All these rages are enough to drive you mad!”, in San Antonio Express-News
  11. ^ Bonnie Berry (2008) The Power of Looks: Social Stratification of Physical Appearance, Ashgate Publishing, page 104: “Her husband refused to have the dog neutered unless neuticles were implanted, and the wife complied.”
  12. ^ Laura Flanders (2004) The W effect: Bush's war on women, Feminist Press at the City University of New York, page 248: “Its first meeting, held at Eve Ensler's apartment, was a who's who, as Cuomo puts it, of "the New York cliterati," including Urvashi Vaid, Laura Flanders, Sarah Schulman and other notables.”
  13. ^ Robert J. Rubel (2007) Squirms, Screams and Squirts: Now you can turn great sex into extraordinary sex, Nazca Plains, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 65:
    In the “for what it's worth" department, the frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex is called santorum.
    Safety Warning #6: Be particularly cautious where this santorum goes. As previously noted, you don't want to get any fecal matter in the vaginal area. Bad safety risk.
  14. ^ 2006: Nancy K. Stade, The Desert Crop, page 31
  15. ^ RichAsianKid (2008 November 25) “Did Britain Just Sell Tibet?”, in soc.culture.china‎[4]: “Much like how crusading for heart disease doesn't have as much cachet as crusading for HIV, or if you adopt a Cambodian child and then string it to your wine 'n' cheese exurb inbred soiree that's your unique Cambodian accessory that few other people can afford.”
  16. ^ g1r8c7c6#702696 (2008 February 14) “Hola, Hillary”, in Caller.com‎[5]: “It was nice to use the public restroom at the Hillary event. I didn't have to worry about a republican toe-tapper being in the next stall.”
  17. ^ Nathan Rabin (2009) The Big Rewind: A Memoir Brought to You by Pop Culture, Scribner, page 222: “In hindsight, I regret not giving him a terrorist fist jab or the Islamist secret handshake. I hear he's quite adept at those.”
  18. ^ Chris Gentilviso (2012 February 6) “Rick Santorum 'Death Panels' Speech”, in The Huffington Post‎[6]
  19. ^ Kim Conte (2010 December 3) “Most Humiliating TSA Pat-Downs of the Week”, in The Stir‎[7]: “Now, some women's advocates are referring to the situation as "Gate Rape" and speaking out against incidents like these so that other women don't have to endure the same humiliation.”
  20. ^ Geoffrey K. Pullum (2011 December 13) “The assholocracy”, in Language Log‎[8]: “We are living, he observed, in the age of the assholocracy. He's right, you know.”

Further reading

[edit]
  • Lerer, Seth (2007) Inventing English: A Portable History of the Language, New York, New York: Columbia University Press, page 195
  • Mencken, H.L. (2006) The American Language: An Inquiry into the Development of English in the United States, Alfred A. Knopf
  • Metcalf, Allan A. (2002) Predicting New Words: The Secrets of Their Success, Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 188
  • Wolfram, Walt with Natalie Schilling-Estes (2006) American English: Dialects and Variation, Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, page 24
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