So I'm just a girl in the world of the Oilers and Flames, being a shining beacon of inspiration to get everyone to quit their erroneous ways and become Canucks Fans. The progress is decidedly slow.
Other than that, I'm a third year Education Student at the University of Lethbridge, majoring in Social Studies. Because let's face it, politics and history are pretty awesome.
Just kidding. Except not really. I had to go way back to intro Sociology to figure what this whole blog post was about, and by golly, I remembered: the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. If you don’t remember what it is (and I don’t blame you), it is roughly the notion that language shapes our culture. With that, I would like to introduce the Words of the Year for the 2000s.
2000 : Muggle.
Holy crap. My boyfriend and I are fighting! And I just realized it. You see, he loves Harry Potter, and I never got into it. Turns out a muggle is a non-wizard, and can be used to describe any unskilled person. Well, of all the rude and inconsiderate!…. wait, why didn’t I think to google it until now?
2001 : 911.
I think its true when they say we’ll all remember where we were when this happened. On that day, I remember my mom coming to wake me up, telling me there was something on the TV I had to see. I remember it exactly. One of the top phrases of this year was “Let’s Roll,” Todd Beamer’s haunting last words to a 911 operator. The question is, will a new generation remember it as well as we do?
2002 : Google.
Wait. There was a time before google? I’m amazed at how I feel so old, and so young all at the same time.
2003 : Metrosexual
My boyfriend goes to U of C taking Finance. He went to this seminar, and they suggested to all the guys to get manicures before job interviews.
Pfft. And we thought this metrosexual thing was just a trend.
2004 : Blog
Hey look guys! Blog! We’re doing something noteworthy…in 2004. I feel very behind the times.
2005 : Katrina
During the Super Bowl, I’ve re-learned many things about Katrina. It’s amazing how quickly we forget. It almost makes me ok with the Saints winning the Super Bowl.
2006 : Truthiness
We have Colbert to thank for this one.
2007 : Sub-prime
Mortgages always remind me of Monopoly, which reminded me of this:
2008 : Bail-out / Barack Obama
More about the economy, and the start of Obama-mania. Obama also inspired some spin-off words, my favourite being “Barackupied.” There’s only one situation I see that one being practical, however. Say, for example, Russia gets all up in our businesses in the Arctic. Canada realizes that we’re going to have to ask the US to help out. Now, in my little day dream, I see Obama marching up to the Russians and saying “Uh. Barackupied bro.”
2009 : Unfriend
Am I the only one who feels bad unfriending people on facebook? I have one friend who daily checks his facebook friend count, he claims, just to check if everyone is still there, like some bizzare little facebook shepherd. I’m thinking about starting a campaign to get people to temporarily unfriend him just to screw with him.
So there you have it. The top words of the decade. Anything that surprised you? I wonder what the next words and phrases are going to be. I really hope it’s not “Who dat?” Not when the wound is still fresh.
