The New Oxford American Dictionary just released its annual Word of the Year and it's unsurprisingly tech-related. This year's honor goes to "unfriend," defined as by the dictionary as, "To remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook."
The Word of the Year is chosen from newly created words by researchers based on language trends, popularity, and cultural significance. Some popular geeky words that were up for the honor are no stranger to GeekSugar: "sexting" and "netbook" were also considered, along with "hashtag," referencing the popular Twitter "#" character and "intexticated," the state of distraction one experiences while driving and texting.
I think that "unfriend" is a pretty fitting addition to the dictionary. Plus, its inclusion makes it easy to decide between the terms "defriend" and the newly validated "unfriend."
Wonderbra
maybe if facebook adds "unlike"/"don't like" to its comment functions we will have another tech-related word next year. ^_^
1shouldn't it be 'defriend'? Either way, this is just a sign of the times. Grammar is irrelevant (
2I always said defriend (and yes, I've been known to do it). Unfriend from here on out.
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