Words of 2007, From 'Surge' to 'Left of Boom' to 'E-Mail Bankruptcy'

AP: "Let's start with the serious stuff first. The war in Iraq has been foremost in many people's minds and I understand there have been some new words have come out of that. For instance, the word 'surge.'"

Surge was a term that came about, I think it was at the end of 2005. And what it meant was that the American government was going to send more troops to Iraq in order to better fight the war there.

splurge. It's kind of their way of poking fun at it. By splurge, they mean they are throwing a lot of money and a lot of resources and a lot of technology at a problem.

boom? I understand boom is a word."

left of boom.  When you talk about 'left of boom' you talk about all the things you do in order to prevent those explosions or to prepare for them. And when you talk about 'right of boom' you talk about all the things you do after an explosion happens. And that means better hospital care or better methods of tracking down the person who caused the explosions."
 
AP: "Why 'left' or 'right' for those meanings?"

 
AP: "Of course, soldiers are always great at grisly slang. I understand there is a new word - meat tag."

global weirding. And I think that requires a little bit of explanation. By weirding we mean that the changes in temperature and changes in the environment are making animals do strange things. Like they will migrate differently or they will go to countries they never went to before. Others are dying off; others are thriving. We're getting strange storms in parts of the world that have never had that kind of weather before. Generally, it's very unusual patterns. And altogether, you can say it's weird or odd."

colony collapse disorder. The beekeepers who keep bees in order to pollinate agricultural crops are coming back to the hives and finding them empty. The hives are just dying.  And they are not sure why the bees are dying. It could be mites, which are very tiny little insects that inhabit the beehives. We don't know. Definitely weird."
 
AP: "Now, money and computers are always a favorite theme. I understand you have a couple of words along that line."

e-mail bankruptcy. And I should say that this term, unlike the others, isn't necessarily brand-new, but what it is, it came to importance this year. It became really significant."

pap."

 
AP: "Thank you very much, Grant, for talking to us. And I wish you a very great year full of lots of new words and great meanings!"