Words of the Year

In her latest book, Words of the Year, Countdown's Susie Dent takes a look at the new and newly revived words, some serious, and some rather more light-hearted, that have been appearing in the English language in 2008.

In addition to the now familiar financial terms such as NINJA LOANS, STAGFLATION, FUNTS, and JUNGLE MAIL, the book also looks at expressions from other areas of our lives - including online social networking, ethical living, and the world of styling - that have been bubbling under this year.

'Our language is becoming more expressive than ever,' says Susie Dent, evident from the appearance of words such as BOYTOX, Botox treatment for men (and MANSCAPING, the all-over removal of a man's body hair as part of a grooming routine); NOMOPHOBIA, a fear of being out of mobile phone contact, and GOOGLEABILITY, the ease with which a name or subject can be found by the Google search engine.

Yet the word that is on everyone's lips at the moment and that has been chosen by Susie to sum up 2008 is CREDIT CRUNCH which in fact 'was already in currency back in the 1960s - being resurrected as circumstances change.'

Susie hopes CREDIT CRUNCH won't be around for too much longer, but which new, or newly revived word from 2008 do you 'love to hate' and never want to hear again? Let us know! Take part in our poll 'Out with the New' to find the most unpopular word of the year!

We'll gather the results and present them in December.

Click here to take part in the survey.

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