Oxford Word of the Year 2009: unfriend

Every year the New Oxford American Dictionary announce its Word of the Year. This announcement is usually applauded by some and derided by others.

This year it has named “unfriend” as Word of the Year. The definition of “unfriend”, according to Oxford, is "to remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.” For example: “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.”

Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend”, a verb, is different from the norm.

Oxford University Press USA, in a blog post, said "unfriend", had beaten teabagger, netbook, sexting, paywall, birther and death panel, hastag, zombie bank, ecotown, tramp stamp for the honour.

"Unfriend has real lex-appeal," said Christine Lindberg, senior lexicographer for Oxford's US dictionary program.

"It has both currency and potential longevity," she said. "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."

Previous words of the year include carbon neutral (2006), locavore (2007), and hypermiling (2008).

Carbon neutral is an adjective that refers to the point at which greenhouse gas emissions from one’s activities, such as driving or flying, are offset by planting trees or investing in solar, wind or other clean-energy projects. Locavores are people who eat locally grown food while hypermiling is a verb meaning “to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques.”

The words on Oxford Word of the Year shortlist are under considered for inclusion in the next dictionary—they are on “words to watch” list. Depending on frequency of usage, they may be added to the next edition of the New Oxford American Dictionary, to publish in Fall 2010.

Word of the year shortlist and finalists:

Technology
hastag – a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets
intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle
netbook – a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory
paywall – a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers
sexting – the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphone

Economy
freemium – a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content
funemployed – taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests
zombie bank – a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government support

Politics and Current Affairs
Ardi – (Ardipithecus ramidus) oldest known hominid, discovered in Ethiopia during the 1990s and announced to the public in 2009
birther – a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s birth certificate
choice mom – a person who chooses to be a single mother
dead panel – a theoretical body that determines which patients deserve to live, when care is rationed
teabagger -a person, who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)

Environment
brown state – a US state that does not have strict environmental regulations
green state – a US state that has strict environmental regulations
ecotown - a town built and run on eco-friendly principles

Novelty Words
deleb – a dead celebrity
tramp stamp – a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman

Monash tops preference poll

Monash University has again got the highest percentage in the Victorian first preference popularity polls. It is better than its rival Melbourne University who has experienced a greater decline as it transitions to its graduate model and cuts undergraduate course.

In Melbourne University, some undergraduate courses such as law, dentistry and physiotherapy are discontinued and transformed to graduate programs. This year 65 undergraduate courses are offered at Melbourne, compared to nearly 200 offered at Monash.

This year Monash University obtained 15,175 first preferences (24%); followed by Deakin University, 9978 (16%); Melbourne University, 8,022 (13%); and La Trobe University 6767 (11%).

The data from other Victorian universities had yet to be released.

Three Australian Universities in the top 100 Global Rankings 2009

Australia has only three universities in the top 100 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) which is compiled by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Australian National University (ANU) is steady at 59. Sydney University has jumped three places to 94 while its rival, Melbourne University has slipped two places to 75.

Harvard University sits at No1, followed by Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley. Cambridge University comes in at No4. Of the top 20, 17 are US institutions, two English and one Japanese.

Universities are ranked in 6 categories: alumni winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals (10%), staff winning Nobel Prizes and Field Medals (20%), highly cited researchers in 21 broad subject categories (20%), articles published in Nature and Science (20%), the Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index (20%), and the per capita academic performance of an institution (10%)

Top 20 World Universities

Rank Institution Country Total Score
1 Harvard University US 100.0
2 Stanford University US 73.1
3 University of California, Berkeley US 71.0
4 University of Cambridge UK 70.2
5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) US 69.5
6 California Institute of Technology US 64.8
7 Columbia University US 61.7
8 Princeton University US 60.2
9 University of Chicago US 57.0
10 Oxford University UK 56.3
11 Yale University US 55.2
12 Cornell University US 53.1
13 University of California, Los Angeles US 52.3
14 University of California, San Diego US 50.7
15 University of Pennsylvania US 49.3
16 University of Washington US 48.0
17 University of Wisconsin-Madison US 46.7
18 University of California, San Francisco US 45.9
19 The Johns Hopkins University US 45.2
20 Tokyo University Japan 45.1


2009 ARWU – Australian Universities ranking

University Aus Rank (World Rank)
Australian National University 1 (59)
Melbourne University 2 (75)
Sydney University 3 (94)
Queensland University 4 (101-151)
University of Western Australia 5 (101-151)
University of New South Wales 6 (152-200)
Macquarie University 7 (201-302)
Monash University 8 (201-302)
University of Adelaide 9 (201-302)
Flinders University 10 (303-401)
James Cook University 11 (303-401)
University of Newcastle 12 (303-401)
University of Tasmania 13 (303-401)
University of Wollongong 14 (303-401)
Curtin University of Technology 15 (402-501)
James Cook University 16 (402-501)
Latrobe University 17 (402-501)
Swinburne University 18 (402-501)

Source: http://www.arwu.org/