2017 Word of the Year: Fake News

There were 10 words on the shortlist for inclusion in the latest edition of Collins’ Dictionary, and the 2017 Word of the Year was….fake news!

Source: Harper Collins

On the shortlist for the ‘2017 Word of the Year’ [note, I’ve classified them myself for ease of analysis]:

Technology

• Gig economy: an economy in which there are few permanent employees and most jobs are assigned to temporary or freelance workers.
• Unicorn: a recently launched business enterprise that is valued at more than one billion dollars (or an imaginary one-horned creature!)
• Insta: of or relating to the photo-sharing application Instagram.
  • [note: ‘swipe’ and ‘contactless’ appeared in 2016…and both seem so commonplace it’s hard to believe they haven’t been around for years!]

Politics

• Antifa: involving, belonging to, or relating to a antifascist organisation.
• Corbynmania: the economic policies advocated by the UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Tellingly, this word was also included on the 2016 shortlist….it seems that ‘May-mania’ doesn’t have quite the same impact!
• Fake news: false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.

Social

• Gender fluid:  not identifying exclusively with one gender rather than another.
• Cuffing season:  the period of autumn and winter, when single people are considered likely to seek settled relationships rather than engage in casual affairs.
  • [note: an interesting development on ‘ghosting’, which appeared in the 2016 shortlist =  ending a relationship by ignoring all communication from the other person]

Trends & media

• Fidget spinner: a small toy comprising two or three prongs arranged around a central bearing.
• Echo Chamber:  an environment, especially on a social media site, in which any statement of opinion is likely to be greeted with approval because it will only be read or heard by people who hold similar views.
  • [note: Social media featured in 2016 with ‘shaming’ = attempting to embarrass a person or group by drawing attention to their perceived offence on social media]

Conclusion

Part of the English’s enduring appeal is its ability to keep on reinventing itself, and by looking back we can see the emergence of trends, notably the extent to which our lives are dominated by technology, which regularly seems to account for about half of each year’s shortlist.

Previous words of the year included:

• 2016: BREXIT
• 2015: Binge watch
• 2014: Photobomb
• 2013: Geek

I wonder what 2018 has in store for us?