has been designated WORD OF THE YEAR by Merriman-Webster, America’s leading dictionary producer. Actually, I was quite surprised since I was pretty sure that the word of the year would have been “Occupy” given how quickly and dramatically the occupy movement spread around the world.
Here are the Merriam-Webster’s choices for Word of the Year since they began the practice in 2003.
2011: Pragmatic — “relating to matters of fact or practical affairs often to the exclusion of intellectual or artistic matters: practical as opposed to idealistic.”
Frequently looked up before 2011 Congressional debate on U.S. debt ceiling, and again as Congressional “supercommittee” considered deficit-cutting measures.
2010: Austerity — “enforced or extreme economy.”
Extensively looked up after Greece imposed a series of strict austerity measures, including cutting public sector salaries and increasing taxes, to fight a debt crisis that eventually spread to other European countries.
2009: Admonish — “to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner.”
Extensively looked up after Rep. Joseph Wilson, R-S.C., was admonished for shouting “you lie” at President Barack Obama during a speech to Congress.
2008: Bailout — “a rescue from financial distress.”
Selected by huge volume of lookups as Congress was considering $700 million bailout package for financial industry.
2007: W00t — “expression of joy or triumph, or an obvious victory; abbreviation of `We Owned the Other Team,’ originating from computer-gaming subculture.”
Selected as representative of new words, often whimsical and clever, emerging from new technology.
2006: Truthiness — “truth that comes from the gut, not books.” Popularized by Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert; selected as Word of the Year by Merriam-Webster’s online users.
Picked as national political debates questioned what constitutes “truth,” and whether it is subjective. Deemed by Merriam-Webster as a playful term for an important issue.
2005: Integrity — “firm adherence to a code; incorruptibility.”
Picked as national political discourse centered on integrity, and lack thereof, in public servants on national and local levels.
2004: Blog — “a website that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments, and often hyperlinks provided by the writer. Short for Weblog.”
Selected as it rocketed to prominence in midyear, driven by growth and popularity of blogs.
2003: Democracy — “government by the people, especially: rule of the majority, or: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.”
Selected as one of the most frequently looked-up words each year, especially in a campaign season preceding noteworthy elections.
I also found it interesting that Time’s PERSON OF THE YEAR is
I’m a huge fan of Michael Morpurgo and was once fortunate enough to host him for a talk as well as tour he and his wife around Victoria. His books tend to be of the universal rather than age-dependent sort which is one of the things I like best about his writing. Dear Ollie remains one of my all-time favorites, but he’s written so many others that I have enjoyed. In fact, I don’t think I’ve read a Morpurgo book that I didn’t like. He recently posted writing tips in The Guardian are well worth checking out. I particularly liked this one.
The most important thing is to live an interesting life. Keep your eyes, ears and heart open. Talk to people and visit interesting places, and don’t forget to ask questions. To be a writer you need to drink in the world around you so it’s always there in your head.
Here are two of my most recent favorite Morpurgo reads.
I shared a post of a picture of a Christmas tree made of books on facebook the other day and today my friend Margriet sent me her version of a book tree . So, I thought I’d post a few others to give you even more ideas.
Here’s the view I’m looking at right now. I’m visiting my friends David and Andrea Spalding on Pender Island this weekend just in time for the Santa Boat visit. Last night we had a lovely dinner (Andrea is a gourmet cook, lucky us). This morning, the guys went off birdwatching. Andrea and I will head out shortly for the Santa Boat, which I can hardly wait for. More on that later. Since Santa isn’t arriving until around noon, we had a chance to talk books which I always enjoy. She showed me her new book, Seal Song which is just gorgeous. Both the text and the illustrations of this classic transformation story are exquisite and I’d highly recommend it as a beautiful Christmas gift. Don’t worry about limiting this to young children though. If anything, it’s one of those picture books for all ages as the language and story are so rich and layered that it will hold up to being read over and over again.
The New York Public Library has recently been featuring a series of Children’s Literary Salons that has me wishing I lived a tad closer to New York. The lastest was a panel on humor in kid’s books that included: Laurie Keller, Nick Bruel, David Roman, and Jules Feiffer. Elizabeth Bird moderated. Although I have zero talent, I have nothing but admiration for writers who can make their audiences laugh. So, I was delighted to see an article in Publisher Weekly, “The Good, the Bad, and the Funny: Authors Talk Humor in Children’s Books”. It’s well worth a gander, even if you’re like me and haven’t a funny bone in your body.
Ok, so yesterday I was talking about the Guardian’s picture book pics for Christmas and this morning I read this headline in NYT “Have Yourself a Retro Little Christmas” by Pamela Paul, the Children’s Book Editor I mentioned the other day.
Sheesh!
The article, and chosen books, are all about reprints and the spirit of Christmas before commercial sales did a number on us. So, I guess I’m the last to know that retro is in! But, I still maintain there is a difference in European and North American sensibilities around picture books. Care to weigh in?
According to the UN Human Rights Declaration, All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. This is not conferred by governments but is a birthright of all people. “Because we are human, we therefore have rights. Because we have rights, governments are bound to protect them.”
One of the great accomplishments of the last century came on the tailcoats of one of the our history’s greatest shames…In order to protect the humanity and dignity of all people, on December 10th, 1948, the UN Assembly voted in favor of adopting the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
Although a few abstained, there wasn’t a single vote that opposed this important declaration which was carried by an overwhelming majority. Have a listen to Hillary Clinton’s landmark speech to the UN. She couldn’t be more clear. She has never been more persuasive.
I’m not sure if this happens anywhere else, but every year in Victoria, there’s a Christmas Truck Parade which collects money and food items for the food bank. It’s a huge deal, with the decorated trucks winding their way through the city on a route that takes them 3 hours. Here’s a short video. I love the truck parade even more than the Santa Parade. My favorites are the cement trucks because their mixers are lit up with moving lights…so cool! And I totally love that it’s for a worthy cause. Note the postal truck decorated with Santa’s postal code which we all know is H0 H0 H0.
Saturday is Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day, which is an absolutely wonderful idea that began in 2010 when Jenny Milchman, a mother an mystery writer wrote a blog post. Within a month, the idea had gone viral. Publisher Weekly reported that 80 bookstores participated in 2010. This year, 150 bookstores plan on participating. It’s a wonderful opportunity to share the joy of literature with your children, grandchildren, or the children of a friend.
Sheryl McFarlane 