Top Word Of 2013: 404

According to the 14th annual Survey Of Global English, the top word for 2013 is a number. 

The Global Language Monitor has announced that ‘404’ is the Top Word, ‘Toxic Politics’ the Top Phrase and Pope Francis the Top Name of 2013 in its 14th annual global survey of the English language. 404 was followed by fail, hashtag, @pontifex, and the Optic. Rounding out the top ten were surveillance, drones, deficit, sequestration, and emancipate. 404 is the near-universal numeric code for failure on the global Internet, augmenting its original use as ‘page not found’. The single word fail is often used together with 404 to signify complete failure of an effort, project, or endeavor.

Both 404 and fail doubtlessly rose to the top due to the Obamacare website. The top three phrases for 2013 are toxic politics, federal shutdown, and global warming. Hit the link for the full lists.