Word of the Year: 'sub-prime'

Earlier this month, dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster declared that 'w00t', a slang interjection coined by online gamers to express happiness, excitement or joy, was the Word of the Year for 2007.

Yet society's neologisms -- usually based on new technology or whimsy -- are ephemeral. Words die out as technology becomes more sophisticated, and youth revitalises its threadbare argot. Is there a word that defines the past year that is both durable and evocative of the political zeitgeist?

A separate survey of words used in the media and on the internet by California-based Global Language Monitor, which uses an algorithm to track words and phrases in the media and on the internet, decided that 'hybrid' should be word of the year with 'climate change' the top phrase. 'Hybrid' is an excellent choice: it connotes progress in science, transportation, electronics and computers, and reflects a growing environmental consciousness.

The runner-up was even more politically resonant: 'surge,' the word that gained currency as US President George Bush's plan to increase the number of US troops deployed to the Iraq War to provide security to Baghdad and Al-Anbar Province. Linguistics professor George Lakoff even criticised the use of the word 'surge' as an example of framing the argument in Bush's favor.

There was broad consensus among Oxford Analytica editors that "sub-prime' was an almost AAA candidate for word of the year. The word, which refers to higher-risk borrowers with lower income than "prime' borrowers, was previously a US financial sector shibboleth, but it became a buzzword for global financial crisis from Wall Street to Wellington as the depth of liquidity problems became apparent.

The subprime crisis also denuded the financial world of its abstruse lexicon. Laymen discussed 'collateralised debt obligations', 'structured investment vehicles', 'NINJA' loans, 'the credit crunch' and 'moral hazard'.

Some words on our Word of the Year shortlist were too esoteric to win the overall accolade, but serve to illuminate political development in other regions of the world. Some examples include:

'superpresidentialism': questions abound as to how the Russian political system, which has so far favoured a very strong presidency, will accommodate a strong prime minister;
'Bolivarianism': a set of political doctrines promoting the unification of Latin America espoused by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez;
'unbundling': how Brussels is trying to break up companies in the name of market liberalisation and more competition.

On a lighter note, Oxford Analytica editors also suggested:

'Mr. Bean', two words that summed up the end of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's honeymoon. Vincent Cable, the acting leader of the Liberal Democrats, told parliament in November that the house had noticed Brown's "remarkable transformation in the past few weeks - from Stalin to Mr Bean.";
¿Por qué no te callas? (English: Why don't you shut up?), a phrase uttered by King Juan Carlos of Spain to Chavez at the Ibero-American Summit in Chile. The phrase became an overnight sensation, gaining cult status as a mobile-phone ringtone and a YouTube video. Some of the protesters against Chavez's government have even adopted the phrase as their slogan.