"Twigga" Word of the Year 2009?

Along with other tw- words inspired by Twitter, twigga is a notable word for 2009.

I just heard Sherri Shepherd use it on The View the other day. And, lo and behold, it soon ended up on Urban Dictionary as "An African-American who follows the twitter activity of another African-American friend."

I let my twigga, Jamal, know I was hitting the club this weekend.

I think it was Joy Behar who joked about the tw- words evoking Elmer Fudd.

"(Double Engine) Bird Strike" Word of the Year 2009?

Thanks to Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III's emergency landing of United Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson, more of the world knows the hazards posed by a bird strike—or the "incredibly rare" double engine bird strike!

And the distinctive Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III is now in play for Name of the Year 2009.

"Mini-Madoffs" Word of the Year 2009?

After the Great Word of the Year Wipeout of 2008 (in which I must've accidentally erased my months-in-the-making list of candidates) I've decided to go ahead and share my observations over the course of the year instead of saving them up to unveil all at once.

Let us begin with mini-Madoffs.

"Their names lack the Dickensian flair of Bernie Madoff, and the money they apparently stole from investors was a small fraction of the $50 billion that Mr. Madoff allegedly lost of his clients’ savings.

"But the number of other people who have been caught running Ponzi schemes in recent weeks is adding up quickly, so much so that they have earned themselves a nickname: mini-Madoffs."—The New York Times (January 27, 2009)