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The Oxford English Dictionary (slogan: "dictionary.com for rich people") just picked its Word of the Year: "Unfriend." You may know this word because it's almost like "de-friend" or "unfollow," both of which I've heard more often than "unfriend," but hey, you can only expect so much from some old Brits.

The OED's runners-up were much better: hashtag, funemployed, birther, teabagger (though plenty of us would argue this word already had a definition). Still, they missed a few tech-related neologisms that were popular this year.

  • Indoorsman: "A person who spends considerable time in indoor pursuits," says Urban Dictionary. As in, "I may not know baseball scores, but as an avid indoorsman, I've built six level 40 paladins on WoW."
  • JFGI: "Just f*cking Google it." Because typing the phrase takes almost as long as googling it yourself instead of being a jerk. (Urban Dictionary)
  • Charticle: A news article based on a chart with little blurbs of text. See also: listicle. Commonly seen by bloggers as a sign that journalism is dying. Commonly used by journalists to get bloggers to post the charticle everywhere, because charticles are pretty. (Word Spy)
  • Vishing: "Phishing" by voice-over-IP: E-mailing a victim asking them to send their account info to a scammer-controlled phone number. (WS)
  • Facebrag: To brag on Facebook, e.g., with a status update about how cool your life is, or a photo of your hot boyfriend. (UD)
  • E-mail courier: Someone who heads over to another's desk to make sure they got an e-mail they just sent. A particular habit of evil co-workers who barely understand how technology works. (UD)
  • Wedsite: A couple's homepage for their wedding. (WS)
  • Ghost tweeter: Hired by the lowest of the low, a ghost tweeter writes the 140-character Twitter updates that their employer is apparently too busy to pop off. To accuse someone of hiring a ghost tweeter is a serious charge. (UD)
  • Ubicomp: Ubiquitous computing, the upcoming age of information technology being integrated into practically everything. Sci-fi writer Bruce Sterling predicts the rise of "spimes," everyday objects that tell you about themselves, like shoes that report on their location to your computer. (WS)
  • Mindcasting: According to Word Spy, "Posting a series of messages that reflect one's current thoughts, ideas, passions, observations, readings, and other intellectual interests." The minutiae that didn't even make it into lifecasting gets transmitted in mindcasting. See also: Self-tracker, one who tracks their weight, running habits, work hours, or such using technology. (WS, WS)
  • Porn storm: A flurry of pop-up windows triggered by clicking a porn site. (UD)
  • Friendsourcing: Getting advice from trusted online friends. (WS)
  • Last texter: Someone who responds to a conversation-ending text with a useless confirmation like "k" or "yeah." Ten cents never felt so wasted. (UD)
  • Peanut-buttering: Spreading a business's resources too thin. While the word was used positively as early as 1987, it's enjoyed a vogue with a negative connotation since a Yahoo VP used it in a company-wide memo in 2006. (WS)


What new words have you seen this year? What else did the Oxford English Dictionary leave out?