Word of the Year 2008: The Experts Weigh In

Looking over WOTY 2008 nominations from select members of the American Dialect Society, I'm surprised by how many of the words are, to me, not that new and not remarkably resurgent, either. Examples from Grant Barrett, Wayne Glowka, Ben Zimmer, and David Barnhart:

absentee-vote
bailout
Bradley effect
change
czar
game-changer
-gate (suffix)
hockey mom
market meltdown
maverick
Oprah effect
plutoid
recession
superdelegate
unemployment
vet

But here are my likes from those lists:

Caribou Barbie
Greyjing
nuke the fridge
post-racial (if only!)
quake lake
silent tsunami
staycation
TARP
terrorist fist-jab
201(k)
wrap rage