Monday, November 16, 2009

Unfriend Joins the Lexicon

Drumroll please . . . the word of the year, according to The New Oxford Dictionary, is unfriend: http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/unfriend-beats-out-birther-death-panel-tramp-stamp-for-oxford-word-of-the-year.php?ref=fpa. Defriend was the word that I have been using, but I will bow to the protectors of the English Language. To unfriend is an interesting new dynamic in the world today. No breakup at a coffee shop, no avoiding calls for months, no need to confront the ex-friend with a final salvo. Instead we simply click a button and then confirm the end of a relationship. And who says technology is impersonal?

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