Copyright © Françoise Herrmann
The very distinguished, 133-year old, American Dialect Society (ADS) voted the suffix -ussy as the Word of the Year (WOTY) 2022. Votes were cast on the occasion of the Society’s Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, on Jan 5-8, 2023.
The suffix -ussy as in Trader Joe’s Cuban spice “Citrusy Garlic” (see image below). But mostly, the playfully obsessive suffix -ussy, taking it’s cue from other more x-rated -ussification permutations that might reflect what is termed the Bottom Rights movement of gay, queer, lesbian and transgender linguistic efforts to subvert the English language.
As Squirres suggests: “This -ussification is 1) kind of annoying, perhaps even on purpose. And 2) a great equalizer. It is subversive, it is Bottom Rights.” Indeed, “-ussification” would not even be seen as an online trend. It would be a part of a deliberate effort to “obliterate any notion of fixed meaning.”
After all, fixed meaning isn’t that essential to human communication, is it? Take the following quote, and you’ll surely get it, even if your computer won’t: “The girls who girl, girl. The girls who girln’t, gorn’t.
References
Zimmer , B. (Jan. 6, 2023). American Dialect Society Selects “-ussy” as 2022 Word of the Year.
https://www.americandialect.org/wp-content/uploads/2022-Word-of-the-Year-PRESS-RELEASE.pdf
Squirres, B. (Jan. 26, 2023). We asked linguists why people are adding -ussy to every word.
https://www.vulture.com/2022/01/bussy-trend-linguists-explain.html
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