Terminology - WOTTIES 2017

Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

After the Oxford Dictionaries selected Post-truth as 2016 WOTY (Word Of The Year), and the Collins Dictionary selected Brexit as 2016 WOTY, what are this year’s WOTTIES*?  What are the terms that have trended, made headlines, and become part of the vernacular, just in the past 12 months?

According to The Washington Post, Dictionary.com has selected complicit as WOTY 2017. Complicit used as an adjective, and defined by Dictionary.com as “Choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others, having complicity”. The term complicit akin to “involved”, and perhaps most importantly when it is used in connection to the refusal to be complicit, as in the recent broken silence, exposing sexual harassment. Complicit was also immortalized in a short SNL (Saturday Night Live) commercial, as the name of a perfume, worn by Scarlett Johansson, playing First Daughter Ivanka.

The Collins Dictionary has selected Fake news as WOTY 2017, which will be included in the next edition of the dictionary, defined as:  “Noun: False, often sensational information, disseminated under the guise of news”. The Collins Dictionary shortlist of WOTTIES 2017 is also interesting.  Consider, for example, the terms:

• Gender-fluid defined as "Adjective: Not identifying exclusively with one gender rather than another"
• Gig economy defined as "Noun: An economy in which there are few permanent employees and most jobs are assigned to temporary or freelance workers”,  or 
• Echo chamber, defined as “Noun: An environment, especially on a social media site, in which any statement of opinion is likely to be greeted with approval because it will only be read or heard by people who hold similar views.” 

The Oxford Dictionaries have yet to announce the term selected as WOTY 2017. As for the The American Dialect Society, after voting  they (3rd person singular pronoun) 2015 WOTY and dumspter fire 2016 WOTY, the ADS will announce their list of 2017 WOTTIES early Jan 2018.

Stay tuned!!
* WOTTIES = plural of the acronym WOTY (Word Of The Year), rhymes with "potties".

References

Herrmann, F. (Nov. 22, 2016) Terminology - ADS WOTY at Patents on the soles of your shoes (2016)

https://patentsonthesolesofyourshoes.blogspot.com/2016/11/terminology-ads-woty.html

Herrmann, F. (Nov. 27, 2016) Terminology - OED WOTY at Patents on the soles of your shoes (2016) 

https://patentsonthesolesofyourshoes.blogspot.com/2016/11/terminology-oed-woty.html 
Herrmann, F. (Jan 15, 2017) Terminology - The ADS WOTY 2016  at Patents on the soles of your shoes (2017) 
https://patentsonthesolesofyourshoes.blogspot.com/2017/01/terminology-ads-woty-2016.html

Oxford Dictionaries WOTY 2016

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/word-of-the-year/word-of-the-year-2016

Stolworthy, J. (Nov. 3, 2016) Collins Dictionary's 10 words of the year, from 'Brexit' and 'snowflake generation' to 'JOMO', in The Independent.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/collins-dictionarys-10-word-of-the-year-from-brexit-and-snowflake-generation-to-jomo-a7395121.html

Collins Dictionary 2017 WOTY

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/woty

Collins WOTY 2017 shortlist

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/word-lovers-blog/new/collins-2017-word-of-the-year-shortlist,396,HCB.html

Dictionary.com WOTY 2017

http://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-year-2017/

Wang, A. (Nov. 27, 2017) Complicit is 2017 WOTY according to Dictionary.com, in The Washington Post.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/11/27/complicit-is-the-2017-word-of-the-year-according-to-dictionary-com/?utm_term=.11a15c5967e5

SNL Complicit (Youtube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7o4oMKbStE