If you said ‘maverick’ you’re surprisingly warm. Merriam-webster has announced its word of the year for 2008: ‘bailout’.

Defined as ‘a rescue from financial distress’, the word is most fitting considering the recent presidential elections and economic situation which have weighed heavily on everybody’s mind. the word received the highest number of look-ups on the merriam-webster online dictionary over the shortest period of time.

Other words on the top ten list were ‘socialism’, ‘maverick’ and ‘turmoil’. The word of the year for 2007 was ‘w00t’ which means expressing joy, either after a triumph, or for no reason at all. a word with a similar
use is ‘yay’.

via boing boing

editor’s note: anticipating the “what’s this have to do with design” but right now we see companies cutting costs so it effects the way they do business and how they develop their products, their brands. i recently rented a Prius for a week and the gas mileage was eye opening. here’s to greener and quality of life enhancing new products. to paraphrase a guest speaker at the inauguration: amen. amen. and amen.