As my enjoyment of all end-of-the-year lists (particularly those of the linguistic variety) has already been established here, I'm sure everyone can understand my regret over not being able to post about this NY Times article before I left for the holiday.

I thought this collection of buzzwords (and buzz-phrases) was especially interesting because, while I have seen many of them before in similar collections—colony collapse disorder, for example—I hadn't even heard of many of them (dramaprice, anyone?), which seemingly contradicts their status as buzzwords. And yet, I knew immediately to what phenomena of 2007 they referred.

A few of my favorite, previously unknown phrases from 2007:

earmarxist n.
A member of Congress who adds earmarks — money designated for pet projects — to legislation.

FTW interj.
For The Win. A bragging exclamation of approval, as in "K-Fed got the kids FTW," or "I was able to open the file with Photoshop. FTW!!!" Originally part of the patter of the game show "Hollywood Squares" and later found in online games like World of Warcraft. Now largely used ironically and sarcastically.

global weirding n.
An increase in severe or unusual environmental activity often attributed to global warming. This includes freakish weather and new animal migration patterns.

All We Are Saying [nytimes]

"Bee and His Shadow" photo from Lasre's Flickr.