American Dialect Society Names Occupy the 2011 Word of the Year

Posted on January 8, 2012

The American Dialect Society voted "occupy" as the word of the year for 2011. The is the 22nd annual word of the year selected by the American Dialect Society. The same word was put on a list of banished words and phrases by Lake Superior State University.

Ben Zimmer, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society, says, "It's a very old word, but over the course of just a few months it took on another life and moved in new and unexpected directions, thanks to a national and global movement. The movement itself was powered by the word."

Here is a list of some of the other winning words at the society's annual words of the year vote:

You can read some of the runner up words here in the American Dialect Society's press release.



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