Social networking on the internet has given us plenty of new words and terms (such as "social networking"), and the New Oxford American Dictionary is paying attention. The publishers announced that "unfriend" is their word of the year for 2009.
Other words considered for the honor included hashtag, sexting, and paywall, all of which are unfamiliar to my spellchecker. Link -via Mashable
unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.
As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.”
“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”
Other words considered for the honor included hashtag, sexting, and paywall, all of which are unfamiliar to my spellchecker. Link -via Mashable
Actually, I thought the correct term was "defriend".
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
I thought it was 'defriend'...
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
Jinx! Buy me a Coke!
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
Defriend would be a better choice to conform to the (rather fluid) rules of English. However, for this word and others like it, you can probably blame the geek who came up with "undo" as a computer command.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
I just defriended the Oxford Dictionary.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
You know most of the people I've found on Facebook were ones I haven't seen in years. I think they were refriended. Of course if I didn't like them they became exfriends or disfriended. :p
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
MC. agreed here. Also, does that mean you would prefer to see "Dedo" under the edit menu? :-3
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
Haha! I think "oops" would be just as good.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
this is newspeak! thanks mr.orwell
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)
Speaking of spell check, if you type an email in Gmail, Gmail will reject the word as incorrectly spelled.
Abusive comment hidden.
(Show it anyway.)