A Man of the Left

Those of you who share my interest in words and language (not that you could tell that by reading any of the posts on this blog) will be interested in Merriam-Webster’s ‘Words of the Year’ list.

The list

The international financial situation has clearly hit upon the consciousness of the many with ‘Bailout’ topping the list, and the American Presidential election’s influence can be seen with terms such as ‘bipartisan’ and ‘maverick’ earning their stripes.

However the eyebrow may be raised by the term ‘socialism’ coming in at number three.

Accepting that

(A) Americans make up the largest block of the websites users

(B) ‘Socialism’ has been in recent tradition, a term synonymous with ‘terrorist’ and ‘traitor’ (amongst others)

(C) People are now looking up ‘socialism’ in the dictionary, presumably to get a definition and not a political view of the term.

Hmmm… this theory could be a load of old tosh of course and it may have more to do with Joe The Plumber (who as a symbol, has more in common with the lefts ennoblement of workers rather then the right’s visions of hope and glory) then any increase of alternative economic systems..

Anyway heres the link

http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/08words.htm