'Austerity' Proclaimed Word Of 2010 By Merriam-Webster

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — As Greece faced a debt crisis, the government passed a series of strict austerity measures, including taxes hikes and cutting public sector pay.

The move sparked angry protests, strikes and riots across the country as unemployment skyrocketed and the crisis spread to other European nations. The move also incited a rush to online dictionaries from those searching for a definition.

Austerity, the 14th century noun defined as "the quality or state of being austere" and "enforced or extreme economy," set off enough searches that Merriam-Webster named it as its Word of the Year for 2010, the dictionary's editors announced Monday.

John Morse, president and publisher of the Springfield, Mass.-based dictionary, said "austerity" saw more than 250,000 searches on the dictionary's free online tool and came with more coverage of the debt crisis.

"What we look for ... what are the words that have had spikes that strike us very much as an anomaly for their regular behavior," Morse said. "The word that really qualifies this year for that is 'austerity'."

Runners-up also announced Monday included "pragmatic," "moratorium," "socialism," and "bigot" -- the last word resulted from public uses by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, former CNN host Rick Sanchez and former NPR senior analyst Juan Williams.

Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor-at-large, said this year's top 10 words were associated with a news event or coverage, which editors believe resulted in prolonged jumps in searches.

According to Morse, the dictionary's online website sees more than 500 million searches a year -- with most of those being usual suspects like "effect" and "affect." But he said words selected for the dictionary's top 10 were words that had searches hundreds of thousands of out-of-character hits.

Words "shellacking," "ebullient," "dissident," and "furtive" also made this year's top list.

Shana Walton, a languages and literature professor also at Nicholls State University, said she understands how news events maybe influenced the dictionary's list.

"If 'moratorium' is one of the most looked-up words, that's clearly a reflection of how often the word was used in the wake of the BP oil spill," said Walton, a linguistic anthropologist who is doing research on oil and land in south Louisiana. "Many people in south Louisiana expressed much more outrage about the moratorium, frankly, than about the spill."

Metcalf said the American Dialect Society will release its "Word of the Year" winner in January, but it's selected by the group like Time's Person of the Year.

Merriam-Webster's annual Words of the Year dating to 2003, when the publisher started making the selection:

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-South Carolina, 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 Web site 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.

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