The Top Words Of 2010

The Global Language Monitor has issued its list of the top words used in English-language media worldwide in 2010. The selections are not necessarily new words, just words that suddenly gained heavy usage.

1. Spillcam
2. Vuvuzela
3. Narrative
4. Refudiate
5. Guido/guidette
6. Deficit
7. Snowmageddon/snowpocalypse
8. 3-D
9. Shellacking
10. Simplexity

Among the top phrases for 2010: teachable moment, ambush marketing, Lady Gaga, man up, Great Recession.

UPDATE: The New Oxford Dictionary has declared "refudiate" to be the Word Of The Year.

“From a strictly lexical interpretation of the different contexts in which Palin has used 'refudiate,' we have concluded that neither 'refute' nor 'repudiate' seems consistently precise, and that 'refudiate' more or less stands on its own, suggesting a general sense of 'reject.'"