According to its web site, the American Dialect Society, founded in 1889, "is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, and of other languages, or dialects of other languages, influencing it or influenced by it."

Words of the year

Since 1991, the society has designated one or more words to be the "word of the year," the year's most important word or expression in public discussion. They have been: 1991 is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

• 1990: bushlips (similar to "bullshit" -- an insincere political remark, stemming from President George H.W. Bush's 1988 "Read my lips: no new taxes" promise, which he did not keep)
• 1991: mother of all (as in Saddam Hussein's "mother of all battles" promise)
• 1992: not! (meaning "just kidding")
• 1993: information superhighway
• 1994: cyber, morph (to change form)
• 1995: web, newt (to act aggressively as a newcomer)
• 1996: Mom (as in soccer mom)
• 1997: millennium bug
• 1998: e- (as in e-mail)
• 1999: Y2K
• 2000: chad (from the 2000 Presidential Election controversy in Florida)
• 2001: 9-11
• 2002: weapons of mass destruction (WMDs)
• 2003: metrosexual
• 2004: red state, blue state, purple state (from the 2004 presidential election)

The society also selects words in other categories that vary from year to year, such as Most Unnecessary, Most Outrageous, and Most Likely to Succeed. Bullshit is also the name of a card game, and a TV show. ... Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born June... 1988 is a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bush delivering the famous line at the 1988 convention Read my lips: No new taxes was a famous pledge made by Republican Presidential candidate George H.W. Bush at the 1988 Republican convention in his acceptance speech on August 18. ... Saddam Hussein Saddām Hussein Ê»Abd al-MajÄ«d al-TikrÄ«t, spelled Husayn or Hussain; (Arabic صدام حسين عبد المجيد التكريتي; born April 28, 1937 ) was President of Iraq from 1979 until his removal by coalition forces during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. ... The information highway is a term used, especially in the 1990s to describe the Internet. ... Cyber was a range of mainframe computers manufactured by Control Data Corporation. ... Morphing is a special effect used in motion pictures and animations. ... Graphic representation of the World Wide Web around Wikipedia The World Wide Web (WWW, W3, or simply Web) is an information space in which the items of interest, referred to as resources, are identified by global identifiers called Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs). ... Newt Gingrich Newton Leroy Gingrich (born June 17, 1943) is an American politician who is best known as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999. ... In United States social, cultural and political discourse, soccer mom refers broadly to a demographic and psychographic group of women with school-age children. ... The year 2000 problem (also known as the Y2K problem and the millennium bug) was a flaw in computer program design that caused some date-related processing to operate incorrectly for dates and times on and after January 1, 2000. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... (Redirected from 2000 Presidential Election) Map The U.S. presidential election of 2000 took place on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7. ... State nickname: Sunshine State Other U.S. States Capital Tallahassee Largest city Jacksonville Governor Jeb Bush (R) Official languages English Area 170,451 km² (22nd)  - Land 137,374 km²  - Water 30,486 km² (17. ... The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of coordinated attacks carried out in the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. ... Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) generally include nuclear, biological, chemical and, increasingly, radiological weapons. ... Metrosexual is a term coined in 1994 (along with the noun, metrosexuality) by British journalist Mark Simpson, who used it to refer to an urban male of any sexual orientation who has a strong aesthetic sense and spends a great deal of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle. ... Red states and blue states are those U.S. states having residents who predominantly vote for the Republican Party or Democratic Party, respectively, in elections in the United States. ... ... In United States presidential politics, a swing state (also, battleground state) is a state in which no candidate has overwhelming support, meaning that any of the major candidates have a reasonable chance of winning the states electoral college votes. ... The 2004 Presidential election may refer to: The Afghan presidential election The Algerian presidential election The American presidential election The Austrian presidential election The Dominican presidential election The Georgia presidential election The Icelandic presidential election The Irish presidential election The Macedonian presidential election The Panamanian presidential election The Republic of...

External links

• American Dialect Society home page
• American Dialect Society: Words of the Year