海角大神

The American Dialect Society has chosen 鈥渂ecause鈥� as the word of the year for 2013. The word received 127 of 175 votes by members of the 125-year-old organization during the 24th Annual Words of The Year vote, which took place in Minneapolis. According to the organization, the word has evolved. "鈥橞ecause鈥� is now being used in new ways to introduce a noun, adjective, or other part of speech," the selection committee explained.

"This past year, the very old word 'because' exploded with new grammatical possibilities in informal online use," linguist and New Words Committee chair Ben Zimmer said. "No longer does 'because' have to be followed by 'of' or a full clause. Now one often sees tersely worded rationales like 'because science' or 'because reasons.' You might not go to a party 'because tired.' As one supporter put it, 'because' should be the Word of the Year 'because useful!'"

鈥淥bamacare鈥� placed second with 39 votes. The organization said the term used to have a pejorative connotation, but that is now used as a matter-of-fact shorthand for the Affordable Care Act. 鈥淪lash鈥� won 21 votes, placing second. The word is commonly used in place of 鈥渁nd/or鈥� or the conjunction 鈥渟o,鈥� as seen in 鈥渃ome and visit slash stay鈥� and 鈥淚 love that place, slash can we go there?鈥�

The term 鈥渟elfie鈥� made third place with 20 votes, and was described as 鈥渁 photo taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone and shared on social media.鈥� 鈥淭werk,鈥� defined as 鈥渁 mode of dance that involves vigorous booty-shaking and booty-thrusting, usually with the feet planted鈥� placed last with only 7 votes.

鈥淏ecause鈥� also won the 鈥渕ost useful鈥� category, beating 鈥渟lash,鈥� 鈥渟elfie,鈥� 鈥渟truggle bus,鈥� and 鈥淎CC.鈥� The organization of grammarians, linguists, lexicographers, and etymologists voted 鈥渃atfish鈥� as the most creative word of the year, which means 鈥渢o misrepresent oneself online, especially as part of a romantic deception.鈥�

The organization announced that they believe the word most likely to succeed is 鈥渂inge-watch,鈥� 鈥渢o consume vast quantities of a single show or series of visual entertainment in one sitting.鈥� The least likely to succeed is 鈥淭hanksgivukkah,鈥� since the convergence of Thanksgiving and the first day of Hanukkah had not happened since 1888, and it will not happen again for another 70,000 years.

This year鈥檚 vote also included a new category for 鈥渕ost productive鈥� words. The winner was the suffix 鈥�-shaming鈥� with 98 of 132 votes. The term is used in the sense of 鈥渇at-shaming鈥� and 鈥減et shaming,鈥� which is 鈥渁 type of public humiliation.鈥�

The word of the year for 2012 was 鈥�#hashtag.鈥�