The 2005 Oxford Dictionary Word of the Year is...

drewnicedrewnice 5,465 Posts
edited December 2005 in Strut Central
Podcast?[/b]



The phenomenal year of the iPod continues this week following the announcement that the New Oxford American Dictionary has designated "podcast" as the 2005 Word of the Year. According to the dictionary company, just 12 months ago, podcast was an arcane activity, the domain of a few techies and self-admitted geeks.
"Podcast was considered for inclusion last year, but we found that not enough people were using it, or were even familiar with the concept," said Erin McKean, editor in chief of the New Oxford American Dictionary. "This year it's a completely different story. The word has finally caught up with the rest of the iPod phenomenon."

Coined by journalist Ben Hammersly, podcast is an amalgamation of the words "broadcast" and "iPod." Defined by the New Oxford American Dictionary as "a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player," podcasting will take its place in the dictionary's lexicon in the updated version due out in early 2006.

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  • aegisaegis 261 Posts
    There was an article in the NY Times earlier this year about putting new words in dictionaries and the fairly young chief editors of the major dictionaries.



    I was saddened to see them discuss removing "information superhighway" from one of them, maybe American Heritage or Websters, I forget. They removed it after adding it a few years ago because they realized that people only said it now as a joke. I miss it already.
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