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The Olympics offered finalists including the verb "to medal," "Games Maker"
-- the name given to thousands of Olympic volunteers -- and distance runner Mo Farah's victory dance, "the Mobot." Europe's financial crisis lent the shortlisted word "Eurogeddon," while technology produced "second screening"
-- watching TV while simultaneously using a computer, phone or tablet
-- and social media popularized the acronym "YOLO," you only live once. The final shortlisted term in Britain is an old word given new life. "Pleb," a derogatory epithet for lower-class people, was alleged to have been uttered to a police officer by British Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell. He denied using the term, but resigned. Other words on the U.S. shortlist included Higgs boson (as in particle), superstorm (as in Sandy) and "nomophobia," the anxiety caused by being without one's mobile phone. All the shortlisted words have made a splash in 2012, but editors say there is no guarantee any of them will endure long enough to enter the hallowed pages of the Oxford English Dictionary.
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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