Two of the big dictionary companies, Oxford and Merriam-Webster, have already made their word-of-the-year announcements (Oxford’s choice was selfie; Merriam-Webster’s, based on number of online lookups, was science), but we the people still get a chance to play, too. Here are three X-of-the-year contests that are still accepting nominations:
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The American Name Society requests nominations for names of the year “that best illustrate, through their creation and/or use during the past 18 months, important trends in the culture of the United States and Canada.” The ANS accepts nominations in four categories: personal names (of “real people, animals, or hurricanes”), place names (of any real geographical location, natural feature, political subdivision, street, or building), trade names (products, companies, organizations), and fictional/literary names. The 2012 name of the year was “Sandy.” Follow the email instructions to submit your nominations. Deadline is January 1, although nominations will also be accepted from the floor at the ANS annual meeting in Minneapolis on January 3, 2014.
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The Baby Name Wizard blog is taking nominations for the Baby Name Wizard Name of the Year. Blog author Laura Wattenberg explains the rules:
The Baby Name Wizard Name of the Year isn’t necessarily the most popular baby name. It’s a name that changed during the course of the year, and points to more changes around us. It’s a one-name time capsule that reminds us of how names are woven into our lives, connecting to and reflecting everything that goes on in our culture.
No deadline given, but the winner is usually announced around December 20. Last year’s winner was Blue Ivy.
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Submit your nominations via email in the American Dialect Society’s Word of the Year contest ([email protected]). In addition to an overall winner, the ADS will choose words of the year in the following categories: Most Useful, Most Creative, Most Unnecessary, Most Outrageous, Most Euphemistic, Most Likely to Succeed, and Least Likely to Succeed. Voting will take place January 3, 2014, at the ADS annual meeting, to be held in Minneapolis. The 2012 ADS word of the year was hashtag.
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I’m working on my own lists, as well as on a Brands of the Year column for the Visual Thesaurus. Leave a comment if you have a BotY nomination!
P.S. Read my previous posts on names and brands of the year.
I keep reading "Baby Name Wizard Name of the Year" as if it were "Baby Name / Wizard Name of the Year" instead of "Baby-Name-Wizard Name of the Year," and wondering how many parents out there are calling their kids things like Albus or Minerva or Radagast.
Posted by: Q. Pheevr | December 03, 2013 at 01:19 PM