You may not appreciate when someone unfriends you on a social networking site, but the action verb has a lexicographical importance to the New Oxford American Dictionary which announced unfriend as its 2009 Word of the Year.
From the press release:
“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”
Searching my blog archives, I find two references to the word of the year. One is from last week on unfriending Facebook friends and the other is from five months ago when I referenced Twitter as lacking unfriendliness as a hurdle to make money.
Christian Science Monitor scribe Marjorie Kehe notes the last three annual words had an environmental bent — “hypermiling” in 2008, “locavore” in 2007, and “carbon neutral” in 2006 — and questions the bigger picture why a similar word, such as “ecotown” wasn’t picked this year. Maybe the web’s caught up with us?
Hat tip to Sarah Evans for the find.
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Haha I read about this the other day – surprising how quickly social media speak has been adopted by the dictionaries.
I dont think Ive ever used the word ‘unfriend’ before…..well I have now!
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