Last month the New Oxford American Dictionary’s named “unfriend” as their word of the year.
unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook
At first I found it a bit curious that a word that is commonly used by cyber junkies would make it to the top the list of a prominent dictionary, but a recent experience with an actual ‘unfriending” prompted me to look a bit deeper. Plus, social media has become such a phenomenon that it is not just for internet geeks.
There are a number of interesting aspects to the word both linguistically as well as emotionally and culturally. Let’s have brief a look at the linguistic aspects.
“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most ‘un-‘ prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar ‘un-‘ verbs (uncap, unpack), but ‘unfriend’ is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of ‘friend’ that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”
It seems that it is not your run of the mill word, and the fact that it has come out of the social media arena is interesting as well. Social media is currently one of the hottest things online in both the private and business world. The fact that it has gained such a common place acceptance is a great example of how the English language grows and stays in tune with the current trends in society. Plus, with the global reach of such sites as Facebook and social media as a whole we see how globalization/localization come into play when we think about how to translate the term into various languages around the world. The word was first coined in English, so it is also an example in the interdependence of language. Actually the official term used on the Facebook site is “remove connection”, but the accepted expression is to “unfriend” someone. Over on globalwatchtower.com I found a list of the translation for a number of different languages.
Locale/Translation
Danish / Fjern forbindelse
German / Verbindung entfernen
Spanish / Eliminar conexión
French / Supprimer la connexion
Indonesian / Hapus Hubungan
Italian / Rimuovi connessione
Dutch / Verbinding verwijderen
Polish / Usun powiazanie
Protugese / Remover conexão
Swedish / Ta bort länk
Turkish / Baglantiyi Kaldir
Maybe next time I’ll have a look at cultural and personal implications of “unfriend” … Is there life after being unfriended?
