Hot words of 2007

Thanks to ResearchBuzz, a great blog for information junkies, for keeping me informed about the buzzwords of 2007. First, there's Google's year-end zeitgeist (see the ResearchBuzz post and the actual page). The page is fun, listing the hottest search terms for each quarter of 2007. The US list doesn't exactly restore my faith in humanity, but it isn't as bad as it could be. Sure, there's Anna Nicole Smith, but she's only #10. The list also includes slightly more substantive topics like MySpace, Facebook, and the iPhone. It would've been nice if people searched on Important Global Issues, but at least Britney Spears is nowhere to be found.

Then there's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year, which is: w00t! I bet that's their first Word of the Year to contain numbers. The page also includes a top 10 words of the year, but I'm not sure how they compiled the list. There are a couple of new words on it, like "blamestorm" and "facebook" (as a verb), but the rest of the list consists of words that have been around awhile.

I had planned to come up with some clever comment about "w00t," but I'm much too sleepy. I have to drag my butt out of bed at about 4 AM tomorrow for an early flight (w00t! Not.) so I'll save the cleverness for another time.