AA:I'mAviArdittiwithRosanneSkirble, andthisweekonWORDMASTER: WecheckinwiththeAmericanDialectSocietyforsomenotablewordsfromthepastyear, includingtheonethatthegroupconsidersleastlikelytosucceed.

RS:Butwestartwiththewordoftheyearfor2010 asvotedFridaynightatameetingoflanguagescholarsinPittsburgh, Pennsylvania. BenZimmerchairstheNewWordsCommitteeoftheAmericanDialectSociety.

BENZIMMER:"Thewordoftheyearis'app,'a-p-p. That's, ofcourse, anapplicationprogramforacomputeroraphoneoperatingsystem. It'sawordthathasbeenaroundforawhile. Peoplemighthavetalkedabouta'killerapp,'aparticularlyimportantcomputerapplication, likespreadsheetswereakillerapp.

"ButnowweusethatwordappjusttorefertotheselittleprogramsthatwerunonourmobiledevicesoronFacebookorlotsofotherplaces. Peoplejustexpectanythingshouldhavesomesortofassociatedappnow."

RS:"Wasapptheoverwhelmingvictor?

BenZimmer

BENZIMMER:"Well, thewordthatcameinsecondplacewasalsoathree-letterword, andtheonethatappbeatoutis'nom,'n-o-m, whichisaformofonomatopoeia. Inotherwords, itsoundslikewhatit'ssupposedtorepresent, inthiscasethesoundofpleasurableeating. Youcanthinkofitabitlike'yum.'Itcanbeusedaninterjection. Itcanbeusedasanountorefertodeliciousfood. Youcouldtalkabout'noms'asin'Let'sgetsomenoms,'meaninglet'sgetsomefoodtoeat."

AA:"Whendidthisarriveonthescene?"

BENZIMMER:"Well, it'sbeenpercolatingforthepastfewyears, especiallyonline. ItalsostartedshowingupthispastyearalotonTwitter, whereonTwittersometimesifyou'resendingatweetwhileyou'reeating, youmightappendanomonthattotalkabouthowdeliciouswhateverfoodyou'reeatinghappenstobe.

"There'salotofdisputeactuallyaboutwhereexactlyitfirstdeveloped. ButCookieMonsterfrom'SesameStreet'seemstohaveplayedanimportantroleinpeople'suseofthis, becauseCookieMonsteronthatchildren'stelevisionshoweatscookiesinaveryravenousfashion. Andthenoisethathemakesashe'seatingcookiessoundslike'nom, nom, nom, nom, nom, nom."

AA:"Now, I'mlookingatthecategoryofleastlikelytosucceed, andIseethatthewinnerthere, with44 outof85 votescastinthatcategory, was-- howdoyouevenpronouncethat?"

RS:"Cultur-OH-mics?"

AA:"Icanneversayit."

BENZIMMER:"Well, that'spartoftheproblem--

RS:"Cultur-AH-mics?"

BENZIMMER:"Peopledon'tknowhowtopronounceit. Thewordis'culturomics,'andit'spronouncedcultur-oh-mics, spelledc-u-l-t-u-r-o-m-i-c-s. It'sthato-m-i-c-sendingthatconfusedalotofpeople. Somepeoplethoughtthiswordshouldbepronouncedcultur-ah-micsbecauseitseemslikeitmighthavetodowitheconomics.

"Butwhatthiswordis, itcamefromapaperthatwaspublishedinthejournalSciencebyateamofresearchersatHarvardandGoogle. AnditwasaboutresearchthatwasdoneanalyzingthehistoryoflanguageandculturebyusingthemillionsandmillionsofbooksandothermaterialsthathavebeenscannedbyGooglefromthebigresearchlibraries.

"What'scalledGoogleBookshascreatedabigcorpus, orcollectionoftexts, thatcannowbeanalyzedinveryinterestingnewways. Andthereareallsortsofgreatnewapplications, andGoogleactuallypresentedthistothepublicintheformofwhattheycalledtheN-gramViewerwhichallowsyoutopluginwordsorphrasesandseehowthey'vewaxedandwanedovertime. Sothere'sallsortofreallyinterestingapplicationsforthisresearch. Unfortunatelythenamethatwasgivendidnotquiteresonatewithpeoplewhoweretryingtofigureoutwhattheheckitmightmean.

"Thenamewasabitofastumper, andtheproblemwiththenameisthat-omicsendingcomesfromgenomics. Sothat'sthestudyofthehumangenomeandhowyoucanfindoutthingsaboutevolutionorpopulationdynamicsbycrunchinglotsofdataanddoingwhat'scalledgenomics. Andsotheideahereisyoucouldcrunchlotsofdataaboutthehistoryofcultureandusethosesimilarresearchtechniquesforwhattheycallculturomics."

RS:BenZimmerisexecutiveproducerofVisualThesaurus.comandthe"OnLanguage" columnistfortheNewYorkTimesMagazine. HeheadstheNewWordsCommitteeoftheAmericanDialectSociety.

AA:Forlinkstoalloftheirnotablewordsof2010 andpreviousyears, andthatN-gramViewerwetalkedabout, gotovoanews.com/wordmaster.

RS:Andthat'sWORDMASTERforthisweek. WithRosanneSkirble, I'mAviArditti.