I never knew there was an American Dialect Society (do they use there for their?), nor did I know anyone went around dubbing words of the year.

However, the American Dialect Society just proclaimed subprime its Word of the Year.

(Subprime, of course, refers to real estate loans made to people who really can’t afford them.  Witness the recent mess in the mortgage lending world and the subsequent rollicking effect on the stock market.)

The Society says the chosen words "do not have to be brand-new [my note: hyphen incorrect and not needed], but they have to be newly prominent or notable in the past year."

(What about surge?)

Previous winners:  To be plutoed (2006), Truthiness (2005), Red/blue/purple states (2004), Metrosexual (2003), 9-11 or 9/11 (2001) and Chad (2000).