The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love) is top word, Pope Francis topped by Ebola as top name, “Hands Up, No Shoot” is top phrase
For the first time ever the most used word of the year is actually not a word – it’s a graphic symbol. The heart-shaped emoji topped an annual survey by the Global Language Monitor, having appeared billions of times a day around the world.
Hashtag and Blood Moon – an effect caused by lunar eclipse – were among other most frequently used words in 2014 blogs, Twitter and Facebook, as well as in 250,000 global print and online media sources, according to the Global Language Monitor analysis.
Ebola is on top of this year’s Names list, followed by Pope Francis, MH370, Ice Bucket Challenge and Crimea. “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot,” used by demonstrators protesting against the killing of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, topped the Phrases rating.
The Top Words of 2014 follow:
Rank / Word / Comments
- The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love) — The Heart ♥ Emoji (for love) is the Top Word of 2014. Each emoji represents an emotion, expression, or state of mind, or a person, place or thing.
- Hashtag — The re-invented pound-sign becomes evermore powerful.
- Vape — Smoking an electronic or e-cigarette, shorthand for vaporize, or vaping. Vapers are banned from indoor vaping in New York and other locales.
- Blood Moon — Four total eclipses of the moon in eighteen-month
span. Some Christians see it as the presaging a “lunar apocalypse”. - Nano — From Greek for dwarf, small; now 1 billionth of a meter, and any number of words surrounding nano technology.
- Photo Bomb — Breaking into a ‘pre-arranged” photograph without authorization resulting in often humorous outcomes.
- Caliphate — Literally, a land ruled by an Islamic Caliph typically governed under Sharia Law.
- (White) privilege — The alleged advantages of having lighter colored skin in a diverse society.
- Bae — Term of endearment for one’s object of desire.
- “Bash” Tag — Using a hashtag to undermine your frenemies.
- Transparency — That state of government openness that is apparently unachievable in the Western World.
- Sustainable — The Jimmy Carter of words; keeps getting stronger since it was WOTY in 2006.
- Clickbait — A link you just have to click on, though its more of a paid-for bait-and-switch.
- Quindecennial — Fifteen year anniversary; 2014 is the quindecinnal of the 21st century.
- Comet — Comet 67p has a visitor from the Rosetta Spacecraft.
OK is most understood word in the world, again.
Previous years’ wordy finalists included “Fail,” “Apocalypse/Armageddon,” “Occupy” and “Fracking.”