The word is out; it’s now official. According to Merriam-Webster, the 2010 Word of the Year is austerity. Criteria included spike in usage and number of online searches. Nice try: “bigot,” “socialism,” “moratorium,” “pragmatic,” “ebullient,” “dissident,” “furtive,” “shellacking” and that haunting upstart, “doppelganger.”
Awesome choice.