Obama Oval Office speech analysis provokes unprecedented response

Austin, Texas, July 2, 2010.  The first decade of the 21st century has witnessed a great many terrible, sad and historical events, with a few, unfortunately fleeting moments of great joy sprinkled between the dirges.  We have done our best to analyze the impact of these events on the global print and electronic media as well as on the Internet, throughout the blogosphere, and now the emerging social media.

After analyzing political speeches for a decade now, as well as all 55 Presidential Inaugural Addresses and transcripts of historical interest (including Washington’s Farewell Address, the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, FDR’s ‘Live in Infamy’ radio address, Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a Dream’ speech) you would think that we had seen and heard everything by now.

However, it wasn’t until our analysis of the President’s Gulf Spill Oval Office address, that we experienced the full force of the Internet’s fury scorned.

And this for an analysis that we considered basically non-newsworthy.

President Obama had given yet another address to the nation.  GLM used the same standardized, widely available, language tools that we used to name Obama’s Grant Park  ”Yes, we can!” victory address as one that ranked with the greatest of presidential orations.  Now these same standardized, time-tested tools are being conveniently criticized as of questionable repute.

We were told that our analysis was either ‘bashing Obama’ or ‘excusing Obama’. At the same time, we were either ‘insulting the people’ or ‘insulting the President’. Finally, it was suggested that we were rather transparently calling for the President to ‘dumb down the rhetoric’ so that one and all might understand  the superior intelligence of ‘his highness’.  Whoa!

Apparently, many readers never got over the headline, missing the actual analysis and what the numbers told us about the speech. Our concern was that our initial headline, Obama Oil Spill Speech Echoes Elite, Aloof Ethos might be considered demeaning to the President.  Wrong.  It was considered demeaning to everyone on the Left and the Right.

For general information on the readability tests used by GLM, click here.

For scientific literature about readability tests, enter Flesch or readability into the ERIC database.

We were surprised to learn that offense was, apparently,  taken in equal proportions by both the Right (Language Expert: If You Didn’t Like Obama’s Oil Spill Speech, It’s Probably Because You’re Stupid) and the Left (Obama Oil Spill Speech Criticized By CNN’s Language Analyst For Not Being Moronic Enough) of the political spectrum.   Nevertheless, we were quite amused by The ColbertReport’s send-up of our (and CNN’s) report, which somehow struck a middle chord.

It was also enlightening to see a significant proportion of this criticism to be ad hominem attacks, focusing on ourselves rather than our analysis.  (Read FAQ about GLM and Paul JJ Payack here.)

This past December, we encountered fierce criticism from the Chinese government dailies because  we named ‘The Rise of China” as the No. 1 news story of the decade.  (You can follow the narrative arc of this controversy here. )  But the criticism that accompanied the Obama Gulf Spill speech, was a good bit nastier, indeed.

Our analyses of the three preceding US Presidential elections were praised from many quarters from the New York Times to Nicholas Kristof to NPR to the worldwide media.  During the preceding ten years, few alleged political motivation, or denounced the standard language-measurement tools as inherently flawed. In fact, as long as readers basically agreed with the more predictable outcomes, there were few complaints.  Here were some of those results:  Ross Perot scored the lowest we’ve ever recorded, John F, Kennedy and Ronald Reagan were stars, both Bushes settled in the middle of the middle school years, and Obama’s ‘Yes, we can!’ speech had nearly equivalent numbers to Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream’ speech and Lincoln’s ‘Gettysburg Address’.   So far, so good.  We did have a few outliers, such as Sarah Palin achieving quite a high score during her debate with Joe Biden, which was duly noted by New York Magazine and quite easy to explain.

Here’s what we attempted to communicate:

1.  Obama’s speech, though deserving a ‘solid B’ did not live up to his past efforts.

2.  Obama’s most well-regarded speech came in a at 7.4 grade level.  This is not talking down to the American people.  This is communicating clear and concisely to his audience.  This is Obama at his best, communicating with a deft combination of vision, passion and rhetoric.

In fact, our headline for that effort read: Obama’s “Yes, We Can” Speech Ranked with “I have a Dream,” “Tear Down this Wall,” and JFK Inaugural. Rather high praise, indeed.

Our commentary read:

Obama’s “Yes, We Can” speech delivered Tuesday night in Chicago’s Grant Park ranked favorably in tone, tenor and rhetorical flourishes with memorable political addresses of the recent past including Martin Luther King, Jr.’s   “I have a Dream” speech, “Tear Down this Wall,” by Ronald  Reagan and John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address.

“As is appropriate for a forward-looking message of hope and reconciliation, words of change and hope, as well as future-related constructions dominated the address,” said Paul JJ Payack President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor.  “Evidently, Obama is at his best at connecting with people at the 7th to 8th grade range, communicating directly to his audience using simple yet powerful rhetorical devices, such as the repetition of the cadenced phrase ‘Yes, we can’, which built to a powerful conclusion.”

Well-regarded, indeed (and well-deserved).

3.   GLM and our predecessor site, yourDictionary.com have analyzed every presidential inaugural since that of George Washington.  The idea was, and continues to be, to look at the presidents’ words in the total historical context of the American presidency.

In 2001, we were quoted as saying,

Our goal was to spot trends that are all to easily overlooked in the political (and all too partisan) passions of the moment” [and continued that our] analysis included patterns of word usage choices, the use of such grammatical constructions as passive voice, the length of words and sentences, the number of paragraphs, and other parameters of language to gauge the content [including] the well-regarded Flesch-Kincaid Reading Scale.

4.  The use of Industry-standard language analytics.  The Fogg Index, the Flesch Test, the Flesch-Kinkaid Reading Scale, and many others, are used in all forms of publishing from technical manuals to ensuring proper comprehension levels for textbooks used for various ages and classes.  This has been true for more than fifty years.

The reason we choose to use the standard tests and analytical tools was a simple one:  to enable the same set of measurements over any period of time.  And also that these analyses could be replicated by scholars and historians and journalists the world over.

5.  We use our proprietary tool, the Predictive Quantities Indicator or PQI to measure media analytics, narrative tracking, and TrendTopper Media Buzz, as such we do not use the PQI for this task.

By the Way, here are a few historical precedents;

• Washington’s Farewell Address of 1796 — 12.0.
• Lincoln-Douglas debates, 1858 — Stephen Douglas’ seven speeches averaged a 12th-grade level 11.9; Lincoln’s averaged 11.2.
• President Franklin Roosevelt’s declaration of war in December 1941 — 11.5.
• Nixon-Kennedy Debates, 1960 — The first nationally televised debates:  Kennedy, 9.6 ; Nixon, 9.1.
• Carter-Ford Debates, 1976 — Carter, 10.4; Ford, 11.0.
• Carter-Reagan debate  – Carter, 12.0; Reagan, 10.7.
• Reagan-Mondale debates — Reagan, 9.8;  Mondale, 8.7.
• Dukakis-Bush debates of 1988 — Dukakis, 8.9; Bush, 6.7 grade.
• Bush-Clinton-Perot debates of 1992 — Carter, 8.5, Bush, 6.5, Perot, 6.3.
• Bush-Gore debate of 2000 — Bush, 7.1, Gore, 8.4.
• Cheney-Lieberman, V.P. Debate — Lieberman, 9.9; Dick Cheney, 9.1.

And for good measure, Hamlet’s ‘To Be or Not to Be Soliloquy’, Shakespeare, c. 1600, comes in at 10.6.

Now Kathleen Parker has considerably upped the ante when applied readability statistics in her premise about Barack Obama as the first ‘feminine president’ ….

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Summary:  What we are experiencing is not a recession, neither great nor small, but rather a global transference of wealth, power and prestige on an unprecedented level, carried out, in von Clausewitz’s words ‘by other means’.

Austin, Texas, April 16, 2010 — Originally alluded to as a ‘Financial Tsunami’ or ‘Financial Meltdown,’ the major global media seem to have gained a consensus as ‘The Great Recession’.  In the beginning, most comparisons were being made to the Great Economic Depression of the 1930s, more familiarly known, simply, as ‘The Depression’ in the same way that many still refer to World War II as ‘The War’.  But even these comparisons frequently ended up referring to the recession of 1982, yet another so-called ‘Great Recession’.

“We believe the difficulty here stems from the fact that this economic crisis is difficult to express in words,” said Paul JJ Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor, “because it does not resemble any economic crisis of the past — but rather a crisis of another sort”.

In On War, one of the most influential books on military strategy of all time, the Prussian career soldier Carl von Clausewitz (1780 – 1831) stated one of his most respected tenets, “War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means,” which is frequently abbreviated to “War is diplomacy carried out by other means’ and by other rules than those of the political and financial norm of the recent past.

We believe that the reason the “Great Recession” label doesn’t fit now is because what we are experiencing is not a recession, neither great nor small, but rather a global transference of wealth, power and prestige on an unprecedented level, carried out ‘by other means’ and by other rules than those of the political and financial norm of the recent past.

This fact is entrapping two US presidents, from radically diverging political viewpoints, in the same dilemma:  describing an economic phenomenon, that doesn’t play by the old rules.  Therefore the difficulty experienced by President Bush as he struggled to describe how the US economy was not in a recession since the GDP had not declined for two consecutive quarters, the traditional definition of a recession, even though jobs were being shed by the millions and the global banking system teetered on the brink of collapse.  Now we have President Obama, attempting to describe how the US economy is emerging out of a recession, though the collateral damage in terms of the evaporation of wealth, mortgages, and jobs remains apparently undaunted and unabated.

The regional or global transfer of wealth, power and influence, the destruction of entire industries and the so-called collateral (or human) damage are all hallmarks of what is now being experienced in the West.

If you carefully disassemble the events of the last decade or two, one can see them as the almost inevitable conclusion of a nameless war that began with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the embrace of a form of the free-market system by China, India and the other rising states, an almost unprecedented transfer of wealth from the Western Economies to the Middle East (Energy) and South and East Asia (manufactured good and services), and the substantial transfer of political power and influence that  inevitably follows.

It currently appears that the Western Powers most affected by these transfers cannot adequately understand, or even explain, their present circumstances in a way that makes sense to the citizenry, let alone actually reverse (or even impede) the course of history.  In fact the larger realities are playing out while the affected societies seemingly default to the hope that they ultimately can exert some sort of control over a reality that is out of their grasp and control.

The good news here is that the transfers of wealth, power and influence has proven relatively bloodless but nonetheless destructive for the hundreds of millions of those on the front lines of the economic dislocations.

And it is in this context that the perceived resentment of the Islamic and Arab states should be more clearly viewed.  This is especially so as they watch helplessly as the new global reality and re-alignments unfold.

In conclusion, it can be argued that the difficulty in naming the current economic crisis is the fact that is not an economic crisis at all but rather a transformational event involving the global transfer of wealth, power and influence, the destruction of entire industries along with the associated collateral (or human) damage.

By Paul JJ Payack and Edward ML Peters

The Global Language Monitor

Austin, Texas-based, Global Language Monitor (GLM) documents, analyzes and tracks trends in language the world over, with a particular emphasis upon Global English. GLM is based in Austin, Texas. GLM is incorporated as an LLC. GLM has deep academic and internet roots. GLM’s predecessor site, yourDictionary.com is the direct descendent of Dr. Robert Beard’s Web of Online Dictionary at Bucknell University, founded in 1994.

If There’s a Trend, There’s MediaBuzz; If There’s a Narrative, There’s Narrative Tracker

In 1999, Paul JJ Payack, joined Dr. Beard, and software entrepreneur George B. Wilson and reorganized Web of Online Dictionaries into yourDictionary.com, where Payack was the founding president. YDC assembled the industry’s premier advisory council of experts. In 2003 Payack, created the Global Language Monitor to carry on the media analysis functions began at YDC. (For example, YDC was the first dictionary to publish its annual Word of the Year WOTY ™ lists.) Dr. Beard continues as president of AlphaDictionary.  George Wilson, a serial entrepreneur,  has successfully founded several other software companies, two of which Payack was a senior executive.

Scholars around the world incorporate GLM’s findings into their research and publications.  Click here to see a representative sampling.

GLM’s proprietary software is key to its leadership position as the top global media analytics organization for the world wide web. GLM has been cited hundreds of by the leading print and electronic media the world over. In fact, the worldwide print and electronic media have come to rely on The Global Language Monitor for its expert analysis on language trends and their subsequent impact on politics, culture and business, including the PQ Index/Indicator, analysis of media coverage of major, worldwide events, the rise of Global English and its march to its 1,000,000th word, the Chinglish Phemomenon, Global yoofSpeak, and many others.

For Contact Information, click here.

Worldwide Media

The GLM has been cited by CNN, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, United Press International, Knight-Ridder, USAToday, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Charlotte Observer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, San Jose Mercury, New York Post, NPR, FoxNews, ABC, NBC, CBS, ChinaNews, The National Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, The BBC, the Australian Braodcasting Company, The Canadian Broadcasting Company, The Cape Town Argus, El Pais (Madrid), The Daily Mail (Scotland), The Hindustan Times, The Gulf News (Qatar), and various electronic and print media on six continents. The GLM is supported by a worldwide assemblage of linguists, professional wordsmiths, and bibliophiles to help monitor the latest trends in the evolution (and demise) of language, word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture.

Our Products

If There’s a Trend, There’s MediaBuzz; If There’s a Narrative, There’s Narrative Tracker

The Global Language Monitor tracks the frequency of words and phrases in social media, on the Internet and blogosphere and the global print and electronic media, as well as accessing proprietary databases (such Factiva).

Our methodologies create actionable intelligence that can be used for brand analysis, product positioning, alternatives to focus groups, colleges and universities.  Our main services include TrendTopper MediaBuzz and Narrative Tracker (click on the icons above for more information on our two services).

Once a keyword base index is created (including selected keywords, phrases, ‘excluders’ and ‘penumbra’ words), ‘timestamps’ and a ‘media universe’ are determined.

The PQI is a weighted Index, factoring in: Long-term trends, Short-term changes, Momentum, and Velocity.   As such it can create ‘signals’ that can be used in a variety of applications.

There are two differing PQIs. When analyzing words and phrases in political contexts, GLM uses the Political-sensitivity Quotient Index; when analyzing words and phrases in any other context, GLM uses a slightly different Predictive Quantities Indicator.

The New York Times: The Power of Words features the Global Language Monitor and the PQ Indicator
back on January 29, 2006.  Click here. This seminal article, using GLM’s methodologies analyzed the potential for a real estate crashed some eighteen months before the Global Economic restructuring.

About Paul JJ Payack

Paul JJ Payack has served as a senior executive of three Fortune 500 high technology companies, as well as numerous Silicon Valley start-ups and re-starts.  Currently, GLM’s President and Chief Word Analyst, he also was the founding president of yourDictionary.com. These two language sites attract millions of page views a month. Payack taught scientific and technological communications and other forms of expository writing at the University of Massachusetts, and has lectured at the University of Texas, Babson College, and many others including the Federal Reserve Bank, GM/Hughes Aircraft.   Payack studied philosophy and psychology at Bucknell University and was graduated from Harvard University (where he studied dead languages, comparative, and fine arts).  He currently resides in Austin, Texas with his wife, Millie, and family.

Contact Payack directly:  pauljjpayack@gmail.com

As a word analyst, Payack provides trend analysis, analytics, and narrative tracking to industry, educational institutions, as well as to the global media.

Payack first announced the Top Words of the Year, WOTY(tm) back in 2000. The history of the Top Words of the Year from 2000 to present can he found here.

Worldwide Media

GLM’s media analytics have been cited by CNN, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, United Press International, Knight-Ridder, USAToday, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Charlotte Observer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, San Jose Mercury, New York Post, NPR, FoxNews, ABC, NBC, CBS, ChinaNews, The National Post, The Sydney Morning Herald, The BBC, the Australian Braodcasting Company, The Canadian Broadcasting Company, The Cape Town Argus, El Pais (Madrid), The Daily Mail (Scotland), The Hindustan Times, The Gulf News (Qatar), and various electronic and print media on six continents.

The Number of Words in the English Language

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The English Language WordClock:  1,005,366

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The English Language passed the Million Word threshold on June 10, 2009 at 10:22 a.m. (GMT).  The Millionth Word was the controversial ‘Web 2.0′. Currently there is a new word created every 98 minutes or about 14.7 words per day.

For Frequently Asked Questions about the Million Word March, GLM, and Paul JJ Payack, go here.

Click here to Follow GLM On Twitter

Linguists Fret as the World Celebrates Global English

‘Millionth English word’ declared

SEE ALSO

• The million words milestone(06.26)
• Millionth word milestone reached(05.26)

BBC NEWS | Programmes | World News America | ‘Millionth English word’ declared

“As expected, English crossed the 1,000,000 word threshold on June 10, 2009 at 10:22 am GMT. However, some 400 years after the death of the Bard, the words and phrases were coined far from Stratford-Upon-Avon, emerging instead from Silicon Valley, India, China, and Poland, as well as Australia, Canada, the US and the UK,” said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor. “English has become a universal means of communication; never before have so many people been able to communicate so easily with so many others.”

The English language is now being studies by hundreds of millions around the globe for entertainment, commercial or scientific purposes. In 1960 there were some 250 million English speakers, mostly in former colonies and the Commonwealth countries. The future of English as a major language was very much in doubt. Today, some 1.53 billion people now speak English as a primary, auxiliary, or business language, with some 250 million acquiring the language in China alone.

• Lexicography 2.0:  The Chambers Reference Editor’s blog

• Having Gaines its Millionth Word, English Marches On (July 20)

• English is the Word Millionaire (20 Minuten) June 22

• Simon Winchester:  ”On the Joys of our truly Global Language” — London Telegraph

• Word Nerd from ABC Nightline (Video)

• BBC News ‘Today’ Show, English Reaches Million Word Milestone (Audio)

• English Passes a Million Words — La Stampa

• GLM’s Answers Frequently Asked Questions about the Million Word March

• The Words in the Mental Cupboard (BBC Magazine)

• English Acquires its One Millionth Word (The Times)

• Ars Technica

• Computerworld

• Christian Science Monitor

There are 10,000 other stories hailing the arrival of the 1,000,000th word from Abu Dhabi, and Tehran, to Beijing, to Sydney, to Chicago and Sri Lanka.

Quote of the Week:

“What’s interesting about a million is that it’s such a tiny number compared to all the words we could have,” said Mark Pagel, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Reading who studies the comings and goings of words across history. (Using any combination of seven consonants with two vowels, for example, creates more than 100-million potential words.) But even with a relatively small pile to call on, words are mostly fleeting. (The Oxford English Dictionary has a list of words that have appeared on record only once in hundreds of years.) A small number of essential words such as “two” or “you” – or their variations – are ancients in the language family, Dr. Pagel said.  “Had you been wandering around the plains of Eurasia 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, you probably could have said ‘thou’ and someone would have know you were referring to them. We think that’s pretty astonishing.”  Toronto Globe and Mail, June, 2008

Why Twitter was not in running for the 1,000,000th word

Austin, Texas June 13, 2009 – Since the 1,000,000th word in the English announcement earlier this week, a number of news organizations have inquired as to why Twitter, the prominent microblog, was not on the final list of words considered for No. 1,000,000. According to Paul JJ Payack, president and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor,  ”The answer is quite straight-forward: Twitter is already a word, as is its companion, to tweet. Certainly, the 21st century definition of twittering is much different than that of the Middle English twiteren, which is similar to the Old High German zwizzirōn, both of which mean, well, to twitter or as Merriam-Webster’s defines it “to utter successive chirping noises” or “to talk in a chattering fashion”. Since it is already catalogued as a headword, 21st c. twittering is simply a new entry, a new definition, under the ancient headword, twitter”.

IT Pro Portal Compares 12-month use of twitter vs Web 2.0

On June 10, the Global Language Monitor announced that Web 2.0 has bested Jai Ho, N00b and Slumdog as the 1,000,000th English word or phrase added to the codex of fourteen hundred-year-old language.

Web 2.0 beats Jai Ho & N00b as 1,000,000th English Word

English passed the Million Word mark earlier today, June 10 at 10:22 am GMT

Word Number 1,000,001: Financial Tsunami
Austin, Texas June 10, 2009 – The Global Language Monitor today announced that Web 2.0 has bested Jai Ho, N00b and Slumdog as the 1,000,000th English word or phrase. added to the codex of fourteen hundred-year-old language. Web 2.0 is a technical term meaning the next generation of World Wide Web products and services. It has crossed from technical jargon into far wider circulation in the last six months. Two terms from India, Jai Ho! and slumdog finished No. 2 and 4. Jai Ho! Is a Hindi exclamation signifying victory or accomplishment; Slumdog is an impolite term for children living in the slums. Just missing the top spot was n00b, a mixture of letters and numbers that is a derisive term for newcomer. It is also the only mainstream English word that contains within itself two numerals. Just missing the final five cut-off,  was another technical term, cloud computing, meaning services that are delivered via the cloud. At its current rate, English generates about 14.7 words a day or one every 98 minutes.

These are the fifteen finalists for the one millionth English word, all of which have met the criteria of a minimum of 25,000 citations with the necessary breadth of geographic distribution, and depth of citations.

1,000,000: Web 2.0 – The next generation of web products and services, coming soon to a browser near you.

999,999: Jai Ho! – The Hindi phrase signifying the joy of victory, used as an exclamation, sometimes rendered as “It is accomplished”. Achieved English-language popularity through the multiple Academy Award Winning film, “Slumdog Millionaire”.

999,998: N00b — From the Gamer Community, a neophyte in playing a particular game; used as a disparaging term.

999,997: Slumdog – a formerly disparaging, now often endearing, comment upon those residing in the slums of India.

999,996: Cloud Computing – The ‘cloud’ has been technical jargon for the Internet for many years. It is now passing into more general usage.

999,995: Carbon Neutral — One of the many phrases relating to the effort to stem Climate Change.

999,994: Slow Food — Food other than the fast-food variety hopefully produced locally (locavores).

999,993: Octomom – The media phenomenon relating to the travails of the mother of the octuplets.

999,992: Greenwashing – Re-branding an old, often inferior, product as environmentally friendly.

999,991: Sexting – Sending email (or text messages) with sexual content.

999,990: Shovel Ready – Projects are ready to begin immediately upon the release of federal stimulus funds.

999,989: Defriend – Social networking terminology for cutting the connection with a formal friend.

999,988: Chengguan – Urban management officers, a cross between mayors, sheriff, and city managers.

999,987: Recessionista – Fashion conscious who use the global economic restructuring to their financial benefit.

999,986: Zombie Banks – Banks that would be dead if not for government intervention and cash infusion.
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In addition, the 1,000,001^st word is Financial Tsunami – The global financial restructuring that seemingly swept out of nowhere, wiping out trillions of dollars of assets, in a matter of months.

Each word was analyzed to determine which depth (number of citations) and breadth (geographic extent of word usage), as well as number of appearances in the global print and electronic media, the Internet, the blogosphere, and social media (such as Twitter and YouTube). The Word with the highest PQI score was deemed the 1,000,000th English language word. The Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) is used to track and analyze word usage.

Global Language Monitor has been tracking English word creation since 2003. Once it identifies new words (or neologisms) it measures their extent and depth of usage with its PQI technology.

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The Economist Predictions for 2009 Preview:

English Marks a Million

Listen to the segment on Morning Edition

Save the Date:  English nears a milestone (Christian Science Monitor)

News Forcaster: When will English pass 1 million words?

Current forecast: after 3/30/08 and before 4/30/08 (45% chance)

A Contrary View of the Million Word March

ENGLISH AND ITS ODDITIES ; The word factory keeps producing

The Million Word March in Smithsonian Magazine

THE WORLD IN WORDS:  Top Words of 2008

Essay:  The Number of Words in the English Language

There are many things in the Universe that can never be precisely measured but that doesn’t stop Humankind from attempting to take their measure.

For example, there are on the order of:

• 7,000 human languages and dialects (6,912 to be precise);
• About 50,000 ideograms in the various Chinese dialects (though countless more words);
• About 100,000,000,000 stars in the Milky Way galaxy (and some 100,000,000,000 galaxies in the universe);
• Over 35,500,000 residents of California;
• And then there are 10 raised to the power of 72 atomic particles in the universe; that is, precisely:

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,

000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atomic particles;

• There are fewer than 100,000 words in the French language;

• There are some some 6.5 billion folks on the planet; (and about 20 billion that have ever walked upon the Earth);

• Fewer than 20,000 different words in the Bible, (actually, 12,143 in the English, 783,137 total in the King James Version, 8,674 in the Hebrew Old Testament, and 5,624 in the Greek New Testament);

• And 24,000 differing words to be found in the complete works of Shakespeare, about 1,700 of which he invented.

Finally, if you emptied all the water out of Lake Tahoe and spread it evenly over all of California it would be about 14 inches deep,  Not that anyone would ever attempt to do so. Or actually care.

Which brings us to the number of words in English.

The central idea of writing is, of course, the idea. Ideas by their very nature are wispy sorts of things. This being so, you can’t grab an idea and do with it what you will. Rather the best for which one can hope is to encapsulate the idea and preserve it for time immemorial in some sort of ethereal amber. We call this amber, language; the basic building block of which is, of course, the word. (We are speaking now as poets and not as linguists.)

As such, writers of English have the good fortune of having hundreds of thousands of words from which to choose. When you think of it, the English language writer always has at least three words for any idea, each rooted in the Latin, the Germanic or Saxon tongues, and the Greek. Think of a word for human habitation: city, town, metropolis, and so on. And that’s just the start. In the English-speaking world we also owe a heavy debtto Algonquin, and Hebrew, and Malay (ketchup anyone?) and Maori, and Zulu and Hmong among a multitude of others. I think you can spot the beginnings of a trend here.

And then there is the entire realm of ”jargon,” scientific and otherwise, those specialized patois or vocabularies known only to those in specific fields. Computer-related jargon is multiplying at an extraordinary rate. And since English has become the lingua Franca of the Internet, English words are being created and non-English words co-opted at an ever-quickening pace.

Scientists estimate that there are approximately 10,000,000,000 neurons in a typical human brain.  Each of these neurons can theorectically interconnect with all the rest.

This being so, the number of interconnects within a single human brain is greater than the entire number of atomic particles in the universe.

If you equate these interconnects to ideas, or even thoughts, the number of potential words needed to express them is, indeed, staggering on the order of billions and billions of trillions.

This being said, I now unequivocally state that as of the 10th day of June in the year 2009 AD (or CE, whatever your preference), we estimate that there were some 1,000,000  words in the English language, plus or minus a handful.

Choose well among them.

PJJP

Austin, Texas, USA

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Lady GaGa Top Fashion Buzzword of Uncoming Season

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Michelle Obama Falls from No.2 to No. 15

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Austin, TX February 2, 2010 – Lady GaGa, the enigmatic yet near ubiquitous performance artist, was declared the Top Fashion Buzzword of the upcoming season by the Global Language Monitor. This is the first time that a name has topped the GLM’s rankings. Immediately following were ‘leggins 2.0,’ ‘no pants,’ ‘off-shoulder,” and ‘chandlier’ as in earrings. Rounding out the Top Ten were the ‘boyfriend’ craze, ‘peek-a-boos,’ ‘camos’ as in camouflage, ‘Hippie Luxe,’ and ‘Armadillo’. Michelle Obama as a fashion icon was reflected in the term ‘Mobama. Mercedes Fashion Week for the fall 2010 collections begins on February 11^th in New York City, followed by the shows in the other major fashion capitals: London, Milan, and Paris.

Schott’s Vocab New York Times

“The relationship between Stefani Germanotta, the girl from Yonkers, and haute couture may not be intuitively obvious, until you realize that Stefani would soon grow into one Lady GaGa,” said Millie L. Payack, director and fashion correspondent of the Global Language Monitor. “The fact remains that the world of fashion has been duly impacted by her in ways some subtle and some rather profound.”

The words were chosen from the global fashion media and nominated by key fashionistas from around the world. This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Predictive Quantities Index, a proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere, now including social media. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

The Top Fashion Buzzwords with commentary follow:

1. Lady Gaga — Enigmatic performance artist has had outsized impact on the world of fashion.

2. Leggins 2.0 – Flourishing from Milano to Main Street, leggings are now differentiated as jeggings (jeans + leggings) and meggings (male leggings), and the like.

3. No pants – Hot pants for the 21^st Century; not much pant (see Lady GaGa).

4. Off-shoulder – One shoulder and Off-the-shoulder asymmetrics are now combined with cutouts, draping, or heritage stylings.

5. Chandeliers — Earrings, that is.

6. Boyfriend (the jacket, jeans etc) – It’s getting to be like an Audrey Hepburn movie out there with boyfriend jackets, jeans and the like.

7. Peek-a-boo – Peek-a-boo fashion is back once again; this time as cutouts.

8. Camos – Camouflage is back, this time with an Urban Jungle vibe.

9. Hippie-luxe – Haute Hippies? That’s the Hippie Luxe movement inspired by the 40^th anniversary of that classic New York Daily News headline: “600,000 Hippies Mired in Mud”.

10. Armadillos – Shaped like a lobster, made of Python, and called Armadillos — the highly controversial sculpted shoe designs of Alexander McQueen.

11. Mixed prints – Mixing various print in sometimes surprising ways: florals, tropicals, geometrics, polka dots, psychedelics, modernism-inspired, even plaids.

12. Embellishments – Delicate, all, including ruffles, transparency and tulle.

13. Ethical fashion – Echoes of PETA here. No furs, no armadillos, no leather.

14. Fashion 2.0 – Incorporating streaming techniques that bring designer showcases and shows to the buyers and consumers in real time.

15. MObama – OK, so she wears ‘mom’ jeans, but everyone seems to notice, after all Michelle is The Mobama.

Each July, the Global Language Monitor ranks the Top Fashion Cities of the Year ranked by Internet presence in a global survey. In 2009, Milan upended New York after a five-year reign as the Top Fashion Capital followed by New York, Paris, Rome and London. Other top movers included Hong Kong and Sao Paulo, who broke into the Top 10, while Barcelona and Miami surged. In the ever-tightening battle for the Subcontinent Mumbai outdistanced Delhi, while Sydney further outdistanced Melbourne.

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Milan Upends New York as Top Fashion Capital

Paris, Rome, London follow.

Hong Kong and Sao Paulo break into the Top 10

Barcelona and Miami surge. Mumbai outdistances Delhi.

Austin, Texas. July 20, 2009.   Milan has upended New York after a five year reign as the Top Fashion Capital in the Global Language Monitor’s annual global survey. Topping the list for 2009 were Milan, New York, Paris, Rome and London follow. Other top movers included Hong Kong and Sao Paulo, who broke into the Top 10, while Barcelona and Miami surged. In the ever-tightening battle for the Subcontinent Mumbai outdistanced Delhi, while Sydney further outdistanced Melbourne.

Read:  Milan Strides Past New York as World’s Fashion Capital (Reuters)

“The global economic restructuring has affected the fashion industry just as it has touched everything else,” said Millie L. Payack, director and fashion correspondent for the Global Language Monitor. “The catwalks were still crowded though with the lights dimmer, the hype a bit more restrained, and ‘recessionistas,’ of course, thriving”.

Though Milan dethroning New York, the Big Five (Milan, New York, Paris, Rome, and London) continued their domination of global fashion.

The world ‘rag’ business is estimated to be over three trillion USD. Regional rankings are provided below.

This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Predictive Quantities Index, a proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

The Top Thirty Fashion Capitals, change from 2008 ranking, and commentary follow.

1. Milano (+3) – Not only overtakes New York but also Rome and Paris.

2. New York (-1) – Knocked out of Top Spot by Milano after a five-year run.

3. Paris (0) – No 1. in our hearts but No. 3 in the media.

4. Rome (-2) — The Eternal City still reigns strong.

5. London (0) – London remains the laggard of the Fashion Elite.

6. Los Angeles (0) – Holding its own at No. 6.

7. Hong Kong (+4) – Leaps over Sydney and Tokyo to seize the lead in Asia/Pacific.

8. Sao Paulo (+25) – A remarkable rise, now dominating the Latin-American scene.

9. Sydney (-2) – Solidly in the Top 10 while Melbourne sinks.

10. Las Vegas (-2) – Intense media spotlight ensures a top ranking.

11. Dubai (+1) – An unlimited budget continually exceeded.

12. Tokyo (-2) – Loses a bit of luster as it slips out of the Top 10.

13. Miami (+13) – Driven by its dominance in swimwear.

14. Barcelona (+11) – Takes the Iberian spotlight.

15. Shanghai (-2) — Now third in the China/Japan rivalry.

16. Mumbai (+6) – In neck-and-neck race for primacy on the Subcontinent.

17. New Delhi (+7) – Both Delhi and Mumbai break into Top 20.

18. Rio de Janeiro (+12) – Comes on strong but Sao Paulo is stronger.

19. Berlin (-10) – Hurt by weak showing in the ‘haute’ category.

20. Singapore (-6) – Fashion infrastructure strong, but hurt by the economy.

21. Madrid (-6) – Barcelona takes the Iberian crown.

22. Moscow (-6) – Remains strong as it drops out of the Top 20.

23. Santiago (-6) – Now third behind Sao Paulo and Rio in Latin America.

24. Buenos Aires (-4) – Strong in new interpretations of classic fashion.

25. Melbourne (-7) — Slips out of Top 20 as Sydney strives ahead.

26. Stockholm (-7) – Tops in Scandinavia with Copenhagen No. 2.

27. Bangkok (+7) – Breaks into the top tier of Asian Fashion.

28. Krakow (-1) – Hold an increasingly intriguing niche in Middle Europe.

29. Prague (-1) – Strengthening its position as a fashion capitol.

30. Mexico City (Not Listed) – First time on the list.

Others in the ranking in order: Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt

Johannesburg, Cape Town, Atlanta

Regional Rankings:

Asia and Oceania: Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne, Bangkok

Europe: Milano, Paris, Rome, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid, Stockholm, (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt)

India: Mumbai, New Delhi

Latin America: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Buenos Aries, Mexico City

Middle and Eastern Europe: Moscow, Krakow, Prague

Middle East and Africa: Dubai, (Johannesburg, Cape Town)

North America: New York, LA, Las Vegas, Miami, (Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, Atlanta)

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Chiconomics, Michele Obama, Sheer, Metallics, and Gladiator

Top FashionSpeak of Upcoming Fall/Winter 2009/10 Season

Austin, TX February 5, 2009 – Chiconomics, Michele Obama, Sheer, Metallics, and Gladiator were named the Top Fashion Buzzwords of the of Upcoming Fall/Winter 2009/10 Season by the Global Language Monitor.  New York Fashion Week begins February 12th.

The words were chosen from those gathered from the worldwide fashion media and nominated by key fashionistas. This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Predictive Quantities Index, a proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

“The fashion world is affected by the global economic meltdown like everyone else this year and are reflected in this season’s buzzwords,” said Millie L. Payack, director and fashion correspondent of the Global Language Monitor.”  Another significant influence is that of Michele Obama as the first Lady of the United States, who already is subject of vast Internet and Blogosphere buzz.”

The Top Fashion Buzzwords with commentary, follow:

1.     Chiconomics – The drive to chicness remains strong though affected by economic crisis.

2.     Michele Obama – Michelle says ‘Yes, we can!’ to bringing back a sense of fashion to the White House; further popularizes the single-shoulder look.

3.     Sheer (not see-through, please!) – Though sheer is synonymous with see-through often to embarrassing results (See Renée Zellweger at the Golden Globes.)

4.     Metallics – Move over silver and gold this year it’s coppers and bronze as well as pewter tones.

5.     Gladiators – From chunky platforms to criss-crossed flats, one of the biggest shoe trends of the new century.

6.     Recessionista — Fashion designers, trend-setters and icons set out to weather the world economic crisis.

7.     Voluminous – As in volume-mungous.  Sometimes combined with the sheer look to dramatic results.

8.     Ferosh – A combination of ‘fierce’ and ‘ferociousness’ popularized by Project Runway’s Christian Siriano.

9.     Shoe Boot – Or booties, favored by fashion-forward A-listers.

10.  Lemongrass – The color of Ms. Obama’s Inauguration gown (designed by Isabel Toledo).

11.  Draping or Grecian or goddess – The Greco-Roman goddess look continues its 2500-year comeback.

12.  Eco-Fashion – Couture with carbon-offsetting properties; the Green movement has not invaded haute couture – yet.

13.  On Trend – The ’oh so trendy’ way to say trendy.

14.  Ethnicware – Also known as Multicutural.

15.  Fast Fashion – The successor to High Street; the ability to produce low-cost knock-offs, includes such retailers as H&M and Target.

16.  Fruit Salad (or Macedonian) – Mixed prints are big and bold.

17.  Tie-dyed Silk – Black silk is everywhere even in tie-dyed creations.

18.  Muffin Top fashion – No worries on the runway but a muffin top is seen  when the belly spills over the waistband in exposed ‘midriff’ fashion.

19.  Palettes – Including Mimosa (yellow) and Blue Iris (purple).

20.  Tribe – Fashion tribes are still en vogue whether hipsters or EMOs.

Each July, the Global Language Monitor ranks the Top Fashion Cities of the Year ranked by Internet presence in a global survey.    Topping the list for 2008 were New York, Rome, Paris, Milan, London, Los Angeles, Sydney, Las Vegas, Berlin and Tokyo.  Madrid (No. 15), Stockholm (No. 20), Cape Town (No. 23) and New Delhi (No. 24) broke into the Top 25.  Notble movement included Sydney moving up five spots to No.7 and Dubai jumping up twelve spots to No.12.

Top Fashion Cities of 2008 Named in Annual Survey

Austin, Texas.   July 15, 2008.   MetaNewsWire.  The Top Fashion Cities of 2007 have been named by the Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com) in its annual global survey.    Topping the list for 2008 are New York, Rome, Paris, Milan, London, Los Angeles, Sydney, Las Vegas, Berlin and Tokyo.  Madrid (No. 15), Stockholm (No. 20), Cape Town (No. 23) and New Delhi (No. 24) broke into the Top 25.  Falling off the list were Sao Paolo and Bangkok.

Other notable movement included Sydney moving up five spots to No.7 and Dubai jumping up twelve spots to No.12.

View the Reuters Fashion Capitals Slide Show and Story

“Our yearly rankings clearly reinforce recent trends:  the Big Five (New York, Rome, Paris, Milan, and London), far and away dominate the world of fashion, especially in the eyes of the print and electronic media, as well as on the internet.  At the same time, the second tier of the cities in the world fashion rankings are coming on strong,” said Millie Lorenzo Payack, Fashion Correspondent and Director of the Global Language Monitor.  “And, by the way, money spent on media outreach can, indeed, make a difference; witness Dubai.”   The world ‘rag’ business is estimated to be close to one half trillion USD.  Regional rankings are provided below.

The View from Italia

This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Predictive Quantities Index, a proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

The Top Fashion Cities, 2008 ranking, last year’s rank, and commentary follow.

1. New YorkNo. 1 for the fifth year running.
2. Rome (2) – The Eternal City, again, a strong No. 2.
3. Paris (3) – Perhaps No. 1 in the world’s hearts and mind – but not the media’s.
4. Milan (5) – Overtakes London in this survey.
5. London (4) – The Elite Five far outdistance the rest.
6. Los Angeles (6) – LA knocks on the door of the Elite Five.
7. Sydney (12) – Sydney makes a huge move, breaking into the Top 10.
8. Las Vegas (9) – The intense media spotlight improves Vegas’ ranking.
9. Berlin (11) – Berlin continues its very strong presence.
10. Tokyo (6) – Tokyo remains the capital of the Asian Fashion Industry.
11. Hong Kong (8) – Threatening to move ahead of Tokyo.
12. Dubai (24) – Massive marketing fueled by petrodollars can make an impact.
13. Shanghai (14) – Vies with Hong Kong for the lead in China.
14. Singapore (10) – Significant fashion infrastructure keeps its ranking strong.
15. Madrid (New) – Reasserts the Iberian fashion lead over Barcelona.
16. Moscow (16) – Firmly ensconces itself in the Top Twenty.
17. Santiago (19) – Leads Latin America.
18. Melbourne (15) – Take a second seat to a high-flying Sydney.
19. Stockholm (New) – First Scandinavian on the list.
20. Buenos Aires (22) – Traditional leader in fashion continues to move up the rankings.
21. Johannesburg (23) – Joburg improves two spots.
22. Mumbai (18) – Mumbai again leads the Subcontinent.
23. Cape Town (New) – Joburg’s rival is new to the list.
24. New Delhi (New) – New Delhi makes the List, but still is outpaced by Bollywood.
25. Barcelona (13) – Still in the Top Twenty-five though Madrid has strong lead.
26. Miami (New) – Makes the list on its leadership in swimwear.
27. Krakow (25) – Shares the neo-Bohemian spotlight with Prague.
28. Prague (New) – No neo about this rising center of fashion.
29. Toronto (New) — First Canadian city on the list; Montreal just missed the rankings.
30. Rio de Janeiro (20) – Strong Latin American No. 3 outpacing Sao Paolo.

Others in the rankings included Copenhagen, Montreal, Sao Paolo, and Bangkok

Regional Rankings:

Asia and Oceania: Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne (Bangkok)

Europe: Rome, Paris, Milano, London, Berlin, Madrid, Stockholm, Barcelona (Copenhagen)

India: Mumbai, New Delhi

Latin America: Santiago, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro (Sao Paolo)

Middle and Eastern Europe: Moscow, Krakow, Prague

Middle East and Africa: Dubai, Johannesburg, Cape Town

North America: New York, LA, Las Vegas, Miami, Toronto (Montreal)

Top 25 Fashion Capitals of 2007 Named:

Former backwaters emerge on global scene

To See the Video Click Here

San Diego. August 1, 2007. (Updated) The Top Fashion Cities of 2007 have been named by the Global Language Monitor in its annual global survey. Topping the list for 2007 are New York, Rome, Paris, London, Milan, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, and Singapore. Breaking into the Top 25 were Berlin (No. 11), Shanghai (No, 14), Moscow (No. 16) and Dubai (No. 24). Other notable rankings included Shanghai at No. 14, Sydney and Melbourne at Nos. 12 and 15 respectively, and the Fashion Quartet of South America: Santiago, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Palo, and Buenos Aires. No. 25 was Krakow making the ranking apparently because of it emerging status as center of neo-Bohemian influence.

New York replaced Paris as the Fashion Capital of the world four years ago.

“The ranking is surprising in a number of ways, most of which relate to the changing nature of the Global Fashion Industry, said Millie Lorenzo Payack, Fashion Correspondent and Director of the Global Language Monitor. “Cities that recently would have been considered fashion backwaters – or worse, are now emerging as significant regional hubs.” This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Predictive Quantities Index, a proprietary algorithm, that tracks words and phrases in the print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

Ranking and Commentary

1. New York — Far and away No.1 by every index

2. Rome — Beats out Paris, London and Milan

3. Paris — Heartbeat of the fashion world

4. London — Pulsing with creative energy

5. Milan — Perennial contender for No. 1

6. Tokyo — Gaining global influence

7. Los Angeles — Will Posh Spice impact Ranking?

8. Hong Kong — No. 1 in South Asia

9. Las Vegas — Emerging as vibrant fashion center

10. Singapore — Strong regional hub

11. Berlin — Big fashion push & its working

12. Sydney — OZ scores two in the Top 20

13. Barcelona — Regional center grows in stature

14. Shanghai — China breaks into the Big Time

15. Melbourne — Ranks a smidgen behind Sydney

16. Moscow — Lenin would not be amused

17. Bangkok — Realizing its dream

18. Mumbai — Indian fashion influences globe

19. Santiago — Major strides for a proud nation

20. Rio de Janeiro — More than Carnivale and Ipanema

21. Sao Paolo — Money and fashion DO mix

22. Buenos Aires — Seat of Classic Beauty returns

23. Johannesburg — A first for Africa

24. Dubai Dubai? — Yes, Dubai

25. Krakow — Neo-Bohemia thrives

The ‘Skirt With No Name’ Challenges Linguists — and the Fashion Elite

– Gypsy, Tiered, Flouncy, Bouncy, or Boho?

San Diego, Calif. August 6, 2005. The ‘Skirt With No Name’ has become a linguistic wonder since, unlike most mass-merchandized products with apparent global appeal — it has no name, or rather none generally accepted by the consumers, who have come up with a plethora of names to describe it. “It’s as if Motorola has introduced a new model of its popular ‘Moto’ phones or Toyota a new Lexus sedan only to have the consumer ignore the names bestowed upon them by their respective marketers and insist upon using their own particular favorite,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and the WordMan for the Global Language Monitor.

Preliminary analysis using the Global Language Monitors proprietary Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), have come up with the top names used to describe the apparel. Using this analysis, ‘tiered’ seems to have settled in as the most popular description followed by ‘peasant’, ‘gypsy,’ and ‘flouncy’. The PQI tracks specified words and phrases in the global print and electronic media and on the Internet. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance.

Apparently the skirt is selling well around the globe. It has been suggested that the skirt originated in Mexico, was inspired by the burgeoning Bollywood studios, is a throwback to California ’60s Hippie Culture, or the sudden ‘coolness’ of all things Gypsy.

“There has been a global groundswell of demand for The Nameless Skirt, after having been by-passed on the runways of Milano, Paris and New York,” said Millie Lorenzo Payack, Director and Fashion Correspondent of The Global Language Monitor, “And the fact that the ‘tiered skirt’ comes in such an unusually large number of variations that might be worn to work, dinner or dancing seems to account for the wide variation of names accorded the product”.

The complete list of names, and commentary, associated with the skirt follow.

1. Tiered — Though it’s not always tiered only adds to the confusion surrounding the name.

2. Peasant (sometimes Pioneer) — Throwback to California ’60s Hippie Culture.

3. Gypsy — A tribute to the current popularity of All Things Gypsy.

4. Flouncy — A favorite of teenage girls who favor the short, circle cut (from ‘flounce’ meaning fringe, frill, trim, edging, and furbelow).

5. Boho — The ‘Oh so cool’ description (from Bohemian).

6. Crinkled — Actually meaning ‘crinkle’ as in ‘wrinkle’.

7. Voile — Many ‘high-end’ shops favor the French mystique.

8. Gauze — A thin or transparent fabric with a loose, open weave.

9. Bollywood — As in ‘Hollywood,’ the Mumbai-based film industry in India.

10. Indian — As in Bollywood, though some associate with a Native American influence.

Read: The Gypsy Boho Phenomenon (UK)

Oh So! au courant Fashion Buzzwords

• Boho
• Bollywood
• Fashionista
• Juicy
• Confection
• The New Black
• Artisanal
• Fashion faux paux
• Flouncy
• Vintage
• Harajutu
• Atelier
• Rag trade
• Gypsy
• Sassy
• Who are you wearing?

Wardrobe Malfunction Selected ‘HollyWORD’ of the Year in Banner Year for Hollywood Impact on Language

Read All About ‘Wardrobe Malfunction’ in the Wikiverse World of Knowledge

• Parley Hollywood: Keira Invents aNew language (Sunday Mail: UK)
• Linguists Comb Stars for New Hollywood Phrases (Scripps Wire)
• New Words Hollywood Gave the English language (India)
• Wardrobe Malfunction Enters the Lexicon (Canadian Broadcasting)

Austin, TX December 9, 2009 – In an exclusive analysis performed by the Global Language Monitor, the Rise of China has been determined to be the Top News Story of the Decade followed by the Iraq War, the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, the War on Terror, and the Death of Michael Jackson. Completing the Top Ten were the Election of Obama to US presidency, the Global Recession of 2008/2009, Hurricane Katrina, the War in Afghanistan, and the onset of the Financial Tsunami/Economic Meltdown. Rounding out the list were the Beijing Olympics, the South Asian Tsunami, the War against the Taliban, the Death of Pope John Paul II, and Osama bin-Laden eludes capture.

Chinese pundits saw GLM’s analysis “was partly aimed at trumpeting the so-called China threat.  The list is the latest sign of the US media’s change from China bashing to China flattery.”  Read how the story unfolded below.

The Original story in Beijing’s People’s Daily

The criticism from China Daily, the official government paper:  The Rise of the Dragon

The follow-up report from Wall Street Journal’s Beijing bureau

The Financial Times’ take on the debate

Chinese Economic Review:  The Hard Bigotry of Too-high Expectations

People’s Daily:  Chinese Ambassador to the UK summarizes China’s position

The methodology: The analysis factored in the number of citations over the course of the decade on the Internet, the blogosphere, including social media, as well as the top 50,000 print and electronic media sites.

“The rise of China to new economic heights has changed – and continues to challenge – the current international order,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor. “It is with little surprise that its ongoing transformation has topped all other news stories in a decade bespotted by war, economic catastrophe, and natural disasters.”

Read Ben MacIntyre it in the Sunday Times (London):  Words that define the Noughties

Rank/News Story/Comment

1. Rise of China – The biggest story of the decade, outdistancing the No. 2 Internet story by 400%.

2. Iraq War — The buildup, the invasion, the hunt for the WMDs, and the Surge were top in print and electronic media outlets.

3. 9/11 Terrorist Attacks – The 9/11 Terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC seemed to set the tone for the new decade.

4. War on Terror – President George W. Bush’s response to 9/11.

5. Death of Michael Jackson – A remarkably high ranking considering that MJ’s death occurred in the final year of the decade.

6. Election of Obama to US presidency – The rallying cries of ‘hope’ and ‘Yes, we can!’ resulting in the historic election of an African-American to the US presidency.

7. Global Recession of 2008/9 – The on-going world economic restructuring as opposed to the initial ‘economic meltdown’ or ‘financial tsunami’.

8. Hurricane Katrina — New Orleans was devastated when the levies collapsed; scenes of death and destruction shocked millions the world over.

9. War in Afghanistan – Now in its eighth year with an expansion into neighboring Pakistan.

10. Economic Meltdown/Financial Tsunami – The initial shock of witnessing some 25% of the world’s wealth melting away seemingly overnight.

11. Beijing Olympics – The formal launch of China onto the world stage.

12. South Asian Tsunami – The horror of 230,000 dead or missing, washed away in a matter of minutes was seared into the consciousness the global community.

13. War against the Taliban – Lands controlled by the Taliban served as a safe haven from which al Qaeda would launch its terrorist attacks.

14. Death of Pope John Paul II – The largest funeral in recent memory with some 2,000,000 pilgrims in attendance.

15. Osama bin-Laden eludes capture – Hesitation to attack Tora Bora in 2002 has led to the continuing manhunt.

This analysis was completed on December 1, 2009 using GLM’s Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), the proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, now including blogs and social media. The words are tracked in relation to frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and velocity.

The Global Language Monitor has recently named the Top Words of the Decade. They were Global Warming, 9/11, Obama, Bailout, Evacuee, and Derivative; Google, Surge, Chinglish, and Tsunami followed. “Climate Change” was top phrase; “Heroes” was top name.

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Rise of China Tops Iraq War and 9/11 as Top Story of Decade

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Top News Stories of the Decade:

The Rise of China surpasses Iraq War and 9/11

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Austin, TX December 9, 2009 – In an exclusive analysis performed by the Global Language Monitor, the Rise of China has been determined to be the Top News Story of the Decade followed by the Iraq War, the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks, the War on Terror, and the Death of Michael Jackson. Completing the Top Ten were the Election of Obama to US presidency, the Global Recession of 2008/2009, Hurricane Katrina, the War in Afghanistan, and the onset of the Financial Tsunami/Economic Meltdown. Rounding out the list were the Beijing Olympics, the South Asian Tsunami, the War against the Taliban, the Death of Pope John Paul II, and Osama bin-Laden eludes capture.

Chinese pundits saw GLM’s analysis “was partly aimed at trumpeting the so-called China threat.  The list is the latest sign of the US media’s change from China bashing to China flattery.”  Read how the story unfolded below.

The Original story in Beijing’s People’s Daily

The criticism from China Daily, the official government paper:  The Rise of the Dragon

The follow-up report from Wall Street Journal’s Beijing bureau

The Financial Times’ take on the debate

Chinese Economic Review:  The Hard Bigotry of Too-high Expectations

People’s Daily:  Chinese Ambassador to the UK summarizes China’s position

The methodology: The analysis factored in the number of citations over the course of the decade on the Internet, the blogosphere, including social media, as well as the top 50,000 print and electronic media sites.

“The rise of China to new economic heights has changed – and continues to challenge – the current international order,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor. “It is with little surprise that its ongoing transformation has topped all other news stories in a decade bespotted by war, economic catastrophe, and natural disasters.”

Read Ben MacIntyre it in the Sunday Times (London):  Words that define the Noughties

Rank/News Story/Comment

1. Rise of China – The biggest story of the decade, outdistancing the No. 2 Internet story by 400%.

2. Iraq War — The buildup, the invasion, the hunt for the WMDs, and the Surge were top in print and electronic media outlets.

3. 9/11 Terrorist Attacks – The 9/11 Terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, DC seemed to set the tone for the new decade.

4. War on Terror – President George W. Bush’s response to 9/11.

5. Death of Michael Jackson – A remarkably high ranking considering that MJ’s death occurred in the final year of the decade.

6. Election of Obama to US presidency – The rallying cries of ‘hope’ and ‘Yes, we can!’ resulting in the historic election of an African-American to the US presidency.

7. Global Recession of 2008/9 – The on-going world economic restructuring as opposed to the initial ‘economic meltdown’ or ‘financial tsunami’.

8. Hurricane Katrina — New Orleans was devastated when the levies collapsed; scenes of death and destruction shocked millions the world over.

9. War in Afghanistan – Now in its eighth year with an expansion into neighboring Pakistan.

10. Economic Meltdown/Financial Tsunami – The initial shock of witnessing some 25% of the world’s wealth melting away seemingly overnight.

11. Beijing Olympics – The formal launch of China onto the world stage.

12. South Asian Tsunami – The horror of 230,000 dead or missing, washed away in a matter of minutes was seared into the consciousness the global community.

13. War against the Taliban – Lands controlled by the Taliban served as a safe haven from which al Qaeda would launch its terrorist attacks.

14. Death of Pope John Paul II – The largest funeral in recent memory with some 2,000,000 pilgrims in attendance.

15. Osama bin-Laden eludes capture – Hesitation to attack Tora Bora in 2002 has led to the continuing manhunt.

This analysis was completed on December 1, 2009 using GLM’s Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI), the proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, now including blogs and social media. The words are tracked in relation to frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets, factoring in long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and velocity.

The Global Language Monitor has recently named the Top Words of the Decade. They were Global Warming, 9/11, Obama, Bailout, Evacuee, and Derivative; Google, Surge, Chinglish, and Tsunami followed.“Climate Change” was top phrase; “Heroes” was top name.

About the Global Language Monitor

Austin-Texas-based Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English.

English has become the first truly global language with some 1.58 billion speakers as a first, second or auxiliary language. Paul JJ Payack examines its impact on the world economy, culture and society in A Million Words and Counting (Citadel Press, New York, 2009).

The current estimate for the number of words in the English Language stands at 1,002,116.

For more information, call 1.925.367.7557, send email to info@LanguageMonitor.com, or visit www.LanguageMonitor.com.

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November 2009 Report

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Michigan and MIT displace Harvard atop Media Buzz Ranking

—Harvard declines 20%; endowment troubles cited

—Public Ivies and Technology-focused institutions thrive

Wellesley tops Colorado and Williams among colleges

—First Women’s College atop Liberal Arts Rankings

—Liberal Arts colleges hold their own on Media Buzz

First Rankings to Include Online/For Profit, Business, Technology, Art, Design and Music Schools

States Ranked by Number of Top Colleges (you might be surprized!)

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Read:  Harvard Brand Takes a Hit in Tough Economic Times

Listen to:  the article in English from China Daily

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Austin, Texas November 9, 2009. In an exclusive TrendTopper MediaBuzz™ analysis of the nation’s colleges and universities, the Global Language Monitor has ranked the nation’s Top 200 colleges and universities according their appearance in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet throughout the blogosphere, and including social media such as Twitter. The GLM rankings were also the first to include specialty schools, such as Art, Business, Music and Engineering schools, as well as online universities.

Read the Reaction from Michigan, Harvard, Yale and Wisconsin

In the University category, there appeared to be a ‘flight to quality’ with the consumer perception of quality being the price-sensitive ‘public ivies’ and technology-centered schools, epitomized by the University of Michigan moving up three places to the top spot. Harvard saw a decline in Media Buzz citations of some 20%, perhaps reflecting its endowment taking an $11 billion hit including some $1.8 billion from the general fund. Other major movers include MIT jumping from No. 16 to No. 2 affirmed the technology trend, North Carolina, another public ivy, moved into the Top Ten, with California—Berkeley moving from No.10 to No. 6.

In the College category, Wellesley overtook Colorado College, Williams and Amherst to claim the No. 1 position, a first for a women’s college. Pomona College, one of California’s Claremont Colleges re-emerged in the Top Ten, and Eugene Lang College of New School University debuted at a very strong No. 9. Overall the College Media Buzz was generally up in contrast to that of the private schools on the Universities list.

“This year we’ve witnessed the impact the Global Financial Restructuring has had upon the US higher education system. On the University level there has been a small but dramatic reordering of the hierarchy, which has remained virtually unshaken for many years,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst at GLM. “However, Liberal arts colleges, the public ivies, and engineering-focused schools appear to have held onto, or actually increased their ‘brand equity’.”

Click here for States Ranked by Number of Top Colleges

This List just might surprise you!

Since TrendTopper MediaBuzz ranks overall media awareness and strength of a school’s ‘brand’ or reputation, the Global Language Monitor included specialty schools, such as Art, Business, Design, Music and Engineering schools, as well as online universities. All these were included in the College category with the exception of the online university, which was assigned to the University category.

The Top Specialty schools listed in their categories as well as overall rank are listed below.

• The Top Business school was Babson College was the Top Business (67 overall, college).

• The Top Art and Design schools were Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) (27 overall, college), Pratt Institute (28 overall, college), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (47 overall, college).

• The Top Engineering school was The Cooper Union (38 overall, college).

• The Top Music Schools were the Julliard School (50 overall, college), the New England Conservatory of Music (96 overall, college), and Berklee College (99 overall, college).

• The Top Online University was the University of Phoenix, USA (37 overall, university).

• The Top Christian was Wheaton College, IL (16 overall, college),

• The Top Military Academies were the United States Naval Academy (20 overall, college), the United States Military Academy (48 overall, college) and the United States Air Force Academy (61 overall, college).

For the complete list of the top Specialty schools, go here.

The Top Twenty-five Universities are listed here.

1 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, MI
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA
3 Harvard University, MA
4 Columbia University, NY
5 University of Chicago, IL
6 University of California—Berkeley, CA
7 University of Wisconsin—Madison , WI
8 Stanford University, CA
9 University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, NC
10 Cornell University, NY
11 Yale University, CT
12 Princeton University, NJ
13 University of Pennsylvania, PA
14 University of California—Los Angeles, CA
15 University of Washington, WA
16 University of Minnesota, MN
17 New York University, NY
18 University of California—San Diego, CA
19 Johns Hopkins University, MD
20 Ohio State University—Columbus, OH
21 University of Virginia, VA
22 U. of California, Davis, CA
23 Georgia Institute of Technology, GA
24 Duke University, NC
25 Boston University, MA

For the full list of Universities, go here.

The Top Twenty-five Colleges are listed here.

1 Wellesley College, MA
2 Williams College, MA
3 Colorado College, CO
4 Oberlin College, OH
5 Amherst College, MA
6 Pomona College, CA
7 Middlebury College, VT
8 Union College, NY
9 Eugene Lang College, NY
10 University of Richmond, VA
11 Vassar College, NY
12 Bowdoin College, ME
13 Bryn Mawr College, PA
14 Connecticut College, CT
15 Bucknell University, PA
16 Wheaton College IL
17 Hamilton College, NY
18 Barnard College, NY
19 Dickinson College, PA
20 United States Naval Academy, MD
21 Washington & Lee University, VA
22 Colgate University, NY
23 Carleton College, MN
24 Bates College, ME
25 Willamette University, OR

For the full list of Colleges, go here.

The Top 200 Colleges and Universities were also ranked by Media Momentum, defined as largest change in Media Buzz from the end of 2008, and the largest change in media citations in the previous 90 days. The analysis was completed on November 1, 2009

GLM used its proprietary Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) software for the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Analysis. GLM used the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s classifications as the basis to distinguish between Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges. The schools were ranked in late October, with the last day of 2008 as the base, with two interim snapshots in 2009.

The Global Language Monitor also provides the TrendTopper Reputation Management Service that helps institutions differentiate themselves among their competitors.  TTRMS does not influence the rankings in any way.  For more information, go to www.TrendTopper.com or call 925.367.7557.

The complete report is available for download.

The 73-page report includes details on:

• 125 Top Universities
• 100 Top Colleges
• Change in the rankings over time
• The PQI Index number for each school to better understand relative rankings
• Ranking by Momentum (Yearly and 90-day snapshots)
• Rankings by State
• Much more!

Click to buy and download the complete 73-page report

Learn about our TrendTopper College Ranking and Branding Services

The Medal Round

Final GLM TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings:

Olympic Global Sponsors: GLM TrendTopper Medal Round

Lenovo Takes the Gold Pulling Away,

J&J Finishes Strong Edging McDonald’s,

Coca-Cola Leaps Over Rivals

Austin, Texas, USA. August 29, 2008.   The final week of the GLM TrendTopper™ analysis of the performance of the Global Sponsors at the Beijing Olympics, Lenovo (OTC: LNVGY) takes the Gold pulling away from the pack, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) finishes strong edging McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) for the Silver, while Coca-Cola (NYSE: K), in a bold move leaps five spots to No. 4.

On the downside, Samsung (OTC: SSNFL) and Kodak (NYSE: K) each fell three spots to No. 6 and 7 respectively.

Over the last two weeks Lenovo has completed its remarkable climb from No. 10 to the Top Spot. The analysis was performed by the Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com), the internet and media tracking agency.

According to Paul JJ Payack, President, “In medal round of our competition, Lenovo performed a Phelpsian move pulling away from the crowd. In fact its media awareness grew over 2100% since our baseline ‘snapshot’ on the last day of 2007. The strength of the Johnson & Johnson brand was also remarkable at No. 2. McDonald’s brand equity was leveraged in clever and interesting ways, especially with their spectacular kick-off event. And, once again, Coca-Cola proved itself in the distance events, placing at or near the top for another Olympiad.”

When the ‘ambush marketers’ are are included with the Global Sponsors, the DreamWorks Animation studio, makers of “Kung Fu Panda”, rose to an unprecedented No. 5, while Nike (NYSE: NKE) just did it and finished at No.9. Pepsi (NYSE: PEP), which owns the Gatorade brand, was up slightly, while American Express (NYSE: AMX) fell five spots.

The Global Sponsors for the Beijing Games are: General Electric (NBC Universal), Coca-Cola, Kodak, Samsung, Lenovo, McDonalds, Omega, Visa, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Manulife and Atos Origin. The ambush marketers being tracked include American Express, Nike, DreamWorks and their hit movie “Kung Fu Panda”, and Pepsi, which owns the Gatorade brand.

GLM uses proprietary algorithms to analyze how words and phrases (in this case brand names) are used globally in relationship to other words and phrases (in this case related to the Beijing Olympics) and how they perform against one another in order to determine rankings and other relevant outputs.

Olympic MediaBuzz Medal Round:  ATHLETES

Phelps Takes Gold,

Newly-coined Media Star Lin Miaoke takes the Silver,

Nastia Liunkin Edges Shawn Johnson for Bronze

Yang Peiyi and Cheng Fei Finish Strong, Yao Ming slips.

Austin, Texas, USA.   August 28, 2008.   In the medal round of the TrendTopper MediaBuzz^TM analysis of the Beijing Olympics, GLM measured how the global media buzz surrounding key athletes changed during the course of the Games.  In the MediaBuzz Medal Round, Michael Phelps took the gold as he pulled away from the pack. The silver belongs to Lin Miaoke, the newly-coined media star. And in a mild surprise, Nastia Liunkin bolted from No. 11 to No. 3 edging out Shawn Johnson for the bronze.

Both Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, the Jamaican sprinters, fared poorly evidencing little staying power, while Guo Jing Jing, apparently having had her moment in the sun, faded.

And, in yet another compelling twist, Lin Miaoke’s counterpart, Yang Peiyi, the little girl who did, indeed, sing the song the whole world sings moved up ten spots to No. 5. The analysis was performed by the Global Language Monitor (GLM), the internet and media tracking agency.

Paul JJ Payack, GLM’s President and Chief Word Analyst, said “The media story for the Beijing Olympics was much larger than Michael Phelps. The plots and subplots, twists and entanglements were compelling at almost every level – from the Opening ceremony to the very end. Each of these was well reflected in the TrendTopper MediaBuzz analysis.” 

The ranking follows and includes rank, name, last week’s rank, and change.

(For more information and other metrics, call 1.925.367.7557.)

Olympian Media Buzz:  The Athletes Ranked, Midway Point

Bolts’ Phelpsian Surge; Guo Jing Jing as in Bling Bling; Shawn Johnson’s Golden Buzz; Cate Campbell Does Swimmingly.

Liu Xiang, Tyson Gay and Paula Radcliffe Plummet.

Austin, Texas, USA.   August 21, 2008.   In its latest TrendTopper^TM analysis of the Beijing Olympics, GLM measured how the media buzz surrounding key athletes has changed during the course of the Games.  As expected Michael Phelps remains a strong No.1 on the TrendTopper BuzzMeter.

The surprise No. 2, however, belongs to Lin Miaoke, the little girl who didn’t sing the song the whole word sings at the Opening Ceremony.  Miaoke knocked NBA star Yao Ming down to No. 3.

Lin Miaoke est devenue une célébrité internationale (PeoplesDaily en francais, 8.26.2008)

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt moved up five spots to No. 4.  Forty-one year-old Dara Torres moved up three spots to No. 5, American elite gynmast Shawn Johnson was up to No. 9 and 16-year-old Cate Campbell jumped eleven spots to No. 12.

See Lip Syncher Gets Her 15 Minutes of Fame on Reuters

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See The View from China: The Mirror’s Front Page Headline — Lin Miaoke defeats the “little giant“

On the downside, Tyson Gay, with a shocking loss in semi-final of 100M, Liu Xiang, China’s first track gold medalist back in Athens, and the UK’s Paula Radcliffe saw their rankings plummet six, eleven and sixteen spots respectively.  The analysis was performed by the Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com), the internet and media tracking agency.

Paul JJ Payack, GLM’s President and Chief Word Analyst, said “Michael Phelps has joined the athletic Pantheon of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Pele and Ali, Usain Bolt (No. 4) may be well on the way to becoming the next Michael Phelps, and if lip-syncer Lin Miaoke (No. 2) and Yang Peiyi (No. 15), her singing counterpart, were in the US, they’d be making the rounds of the morning talk shows.”

See Analysis by Brent Hunsberger of the Oregonian

See Analysis by Howard Bloom of Sports Business News

Olympic Global Sponsors vs. Ambush Marketers

GLM TrendTopper™ Analysis: Olympics Week 2

Mickey D surges to Top,

J&J a strong No. 2,

Visa up to No.3

Lenovo strong, but Coke & Kodak fall

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Austin, Texas, USA. August 13, 2008.   In Week 2 of the GLM TrendTopper™ analysis of the performance of the Global Sponsors of the Beijing Summer Games McDonald’s (nyse:  MCD) topped the field, while Johnson & Johnson (nyse: JNJ) moved up three notches to No. 2, while Visa (nyse: V) was up one at No.3. Lenovo (LNVGY), the PC maker, had a very strong performance, moving up six spots to No. 4.

Forbes: Sponsors step up pace to get Olympic mileage

Olympic Global Sponsors vs. Ambush Marketers

On the negative side, Samsung (SSNFL) plunged from the top spot to No. 5; Coke (nyse: KO) fell from No.2 to No.7, while Kodak (nyse:  EK) settled in at No. 10, losing three. The analysis was performed by the Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com), the media tracking agency.

When included in the Survey with the Global Sponsors, American Express (nyse: AXP) and Nike (NKE) both stayed in the Top Five, with Amex moving up three positions to No. 3. The DreamWorks Animation studio, which made “Kung Fu Panda”, and Pepsi (nyse: PEP), which owns Gatorade fell three and two spots respectively.

According to Paul JJ Payack, President, “The TrendTopper analysis suggests that McDonald’s has successfully capitalized on its blow-out kickoff event last week, while Samsung’s huge marketing push seems to have faltered in Week Two. Johnson&Johnson was apparently correct in their analysis of their Olympic-themed ads having significantly greater recall. And Lenovo seems to have done everything right this week, with a 50%+ increase in visibility. At the same time, Kodak declined some 20%. On the ‘ambush marketing’ side, Amex’ visibility increased significantly and Nike remained quite strong besting nine of the twelve global sponsors.”

The Global Sponsors for the Beijing Games are: General Electric (NBC Universal), Coca-Cola, Kodak, Samsung, Lenova, McDonalds, Omega, Visa, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Manulife and Atos Origin. The ambush marketers being tracked include American express, Nike, DreamWorks and their hit movie “Kung Fu Panda”, and Pepsi, which owns the Gatorade brand.

GLM uses proprietary algorithms to analyze how words and phrases (in this case brand names) are used globally in relationship to other words and phrases (in this case related to the Beijing Olympics) and how they perform against one another in order to determine rankings and other relevant outputs. GLM will update the TrendTopper ranking each week during the Games.

GLM TrendTopper™ Analysis: Olympics Week 1

• Samsung Vaults to Top,

• Coke Close Second,

• McDonald’s Moves Up to No. 3

Ambush Marketers Move into Top Ten:  Nike, AMEX, Kung Fu Panda & Pepsi

Austin, Texas, USA. August 10, 2008.   (Updated) In an exclusive GLM TrendTopper™ analysis of the performance of the Global Sponsors of the Beijing Summer Games found Samsung vaulting to the lead position of Beijing Field, Coca-Cola a close second, with McDonald’s moving up to the third position. It also found that Visa stumbled out of the gate losing three positions, while Johnson & Johnson held steady at No. 5. General Electric (and its NBC Universal division) rebounded after losing the early lead position. The analysis was performed by the Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com), a media tracking agency.

In a related finding, GLM found that four companies were perceived as Global Sponsors though they are not: Nike, American Express, the DreamWorks Animation studio, which made “Kung Fu Panda”, and Pepsi, which owns Gatorade. When added into the analysis, Nike moves to No.5, American Express at No.6, Kung Fu Panda (No. 8), and Pepsi (No.10) in the expanded field.

According to Paul JJ Payack, President, “The TrendTopper analysis suggests that Samsung’s huge marketing push seems to be paying off, and though GE is very strong, and started the year at the top of the survey, it has very little marketing momentum as the games unfold. Also, the non-global sponsor companies appear to be doing quite well off their ‘ties’ to the Beijing Games.”

The Global Sponsors for the Beijing Games are: General Electric (NBC Universal), Coca-Cola, Kodak, Samsung, Lenova, McDonalds, Omega, Visa, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Manulife and Atos Origin.

GLM uses proprietary algorithms to analyze how words and phrases (in this case brand names) are used globally in relationship to other words and phrases (in this case related to the Beijing Olympics) and how they perform against one another in order to determine rankings and other relevant outputs. GLM will update the TrendTopper ranking each week during the Games.

The GLM TrendTopper Analysis with Non-sponsors included follows.

For more information on the methodology, go here.

For analysis details (including historical data and momentum), call 1.925.367.7557.

The Glory that was Greece Vs. the Media!

Athens Olympics:

Greek Symbols Can Be a Trojan Horse for Reporters

Journalists go gaga over Greek words

Arthur Spiegelman, ATHENS, REUTERS:

Writing about the Olympics in the land of Oedipus can be a complex business.  The world’s journalists are finding inspiration in classical Greek drama and myth. After all, Nike is not just a running shoe in these parts.

It is not every day that you can have the sword of Damocles hovering, athletes suffering from Achilles heels and teams enduring Pyrrhic victories.  Herculean efforts abound in the land of Marathon races.
Homer, the poet and not the Simpson family patriarch, hovers over every baseball game.

With all this rich symbolism available, it is not hard for a journalist to enjoy a Eureka moment and declare that Greek sailors are on a Poseidon adventure in the sailing regatta.

NBC sports commentator Bob Costas won hoots back home when during opening night ceremonies he told co-host Katie Couric, ”Oedipus, as you know, Katie, was the tragic king who killed his father and married his mother — a sequence of events that rarely turns out well.” He topped that line moments later when he noted that Alexander the Great had competed indifferently in the Olympics.
”As an athlete, he might have been Alexander the so-so.” Thanks to a doping scandal involving two Greek sprinters, one of the most overused phrases of the Games for the last 48 hours has been ”Greek tragedy”.

As the Ottawa Citizen noted: ”On the night that Greece dared to dance with the gods of Olympia, a sentimental journey to antiquity was jolted by a modern reality.  ”Doping. A scandal involving two Greek athletic stars has stunned and shamed the host nation … Afairy tale becomes a Greek tragedy, or is it a farce? It’s hard to tell.” The Citizen was not alone as he began his Olympic Odyssey.

Legions of reporters (present company included), waxed lyrical about the dangers of Hubris. Drawing on the references of ancient Greece is to be expected, says language expert Paul JJ Payack.  Payack, the president of the Global Language Monitor, said: ”There were more than 3,000 references to Classic Greek history and mythology in the media and on the Internet this morning versus virtually none only 30 days ago.

”There is an almost desperate attempt in the worldwide media frenzy to link any news story to the Athens Olympics and classical Greek history, with the overuse of such terms as sword of Damocles, Trojan horse and Achilles heel.

• Invoking the Wrath of the (language)gods (Washington Post)

• Journalists go ga-ga over Greek Words (India)

The Olympics in Land of Oedipus (Persian Gulf News)

The King Isn’t Dead After All!

The Tangles of Time: A Brief History of Chess

By Paul JJ Payack

Chess yields us,
when we need them most,
companions in our loneliness.
—Mu’ Tazz

As masterful a player as Emmanuel Lasker regarded chess as neither an art nor a science but rather a war in which the pieces served as troops and the players the generals. This stemmed from the notion that chess was invented as a war game and so, that is the manner in which it should executed. Undoubtedly reality is reflected in the idea that chess originated either as an aid or substitute for warfare.

Lasker maintained that to understand its creation all that is needed is an understanding of the method of classical warfare. Lasker explained that opposing armies would take their positions in nearly straight lines separated by a nearly level plain. The generals, in order to make their plans comprehensible to their commanders, would sketch the original position and later movements of their pawns and men. Lasker was fond of using the Battle of Cannae, 216 BC, as an illustration. At Cannae, the Carthaginians under the command of Hannibal defeated a Roman force nearly twice their number with superior strategy.

Lasker thought that it was entirely possible that Hannibal not only drew lines and placed stones on a board to explain his stratagems, but did so on what would one day be called a chequer-board. This was given the now familiar shape of a square divided into sixty-four smaller squares, colored black and white alternately. Though Lasker’s contention that chess was invented as a game of war is undoubtedly true, he seems to have postdated its conception by some eight centuries and misplaced it by several worlds.

After a millennium passed in the Buddhist era, various references occur to a game that seems the direct forbear of present-day chess. According to Sanskrit literature, apart from the central king and counselor, the pieces represented the quadrants of the ancient Indian army: war chariots, cavalry, elephants, and foot soldiers. The Upper Basin of the Ganges, or thereabouts, was the locale where this game first appeared. Since the area was a Buddhist stronghold, it is not unreasonable to assume that their monks had a hand in its inception. Since Buddhists oppose the killing of any form of life, it can be hypothesized that the game was invented as a bloodless substitute for war (by allowing men to engage in a combat of a higher sort).

In this version the infantrymen moved as pawns of all times and places, excepting the modern two-square debut. The cavalrymen were placed and manipulated in the same manner as the knight. The elephants’ movements were diagonal and limited to two squares, therefore they were inherently weaker than the bishops into which they were later transformed. The chariots were equal in every respect to the castles which through some ripple in history came to be called rooks. And the counselor, beside the king, moved diagonally also and only one square per move; as time passed its powers were increased to that of the bishop, thereby considerably enhancing the complexity of the game.

Chess spread rapidly (in historical terms) from the Subcontinent to the curiously diverse cultures further west, each leaving ineradicable traces of their time and culture. Persia bestowed the name to the game. Words, unlike mathematical formulae, both lose and gain in their sojourn through time and place. Aside from the usual etymological eddies, the development of the name flowed as follows. The Persian shah “king” came through the Arabic and the tangles of time to Europe as, among other variations, the Old French (e)sches, plural of (e)schek “check” derived from “shah.” From there it was but a minor simplification to the Saxon and Modern English word “chess.”

The culmination of this bloodless substitute for bloodletting is the murder of the enemy king, although the modern game ends euphemistically with the checkmate. This term, too, can be traced through a millennium to Persia. Shah mat “checkmate” means ‘the king (shah) is dead,’ where “mat” is related to the Latin stem mort- “death” found in “mortuary.”

Within a generation of the Hegira, the Arabs conquered Persia in the sacred name of Mohammed. As is usually the case, the two cultures became inextricably entwined and from that time forward it was the Islamic culture that became the primary vehicle of chess. As the game was carried from land to land it underwent a series of transmutations, some surprising and some not so surprising at all.

The Elephant was reduced to its ears. That is it was simplified (for reasons of convenience and religion) to a lump of wood, with a cut extracted from its center. An item of far more interest concerns the Arab rukh which predates the English rook for crow. It is still a matter of some controversy whether the rook was actually a chariot, a bird, or even a ship. It is highly probable that in differing cultures in differing centuries it was each.

In Arabia there seems little doubt that the chariot was replaced by a moderately prominent member the then-current mythology. In Arabian Nights the rukh was an enormous bird of gigantic girth which was inordinately wide of wing; a vast magnification of the eagle or condor. In most variations, the bird had the ability to carry an elephant, and sometimes several, in its talons. The thread of interest that lies about and through all variations of the rukh myth is that it was, whatever else, a deadly enemy of the elephant. (Later, with the aristocratization of chess, the elephant would be transformed into an ecclesiastic.)

Soon chess was a commonplace throughout the world of Islam, from Andalus in the West to the Indus in the East. The Moors carried chess to the Iberian Peninsula during the eighth century of the Christian era, and the Eastern Empire in Byzantium also learned of the game before the century had waned. From Iberia it spread to the north of Europe, while Russia seems to have acquired the game directly from India. (In Russian chess bears its original name, shakh-maty.)

During the High Middle Ages chess became a leisure time activity of the feudal lords, and the pieces began to resemble the aristocracy. (The rukh became, curiously enough, a castle.) A knowledge of ‘Nights and Days’ was considered a social grace for every genteel and parfait knight. Obviously, one reason for this was the connection between chess and war. Soon the powers of certain pieces were increased,making the game much more lively or, if you prefer, deadly.

That lump of wood with the split was not recognized in Europe as an elephant. This was understandably so, since to the folks of medieval Europe an elephant was just as much a mythological creature as the rukh, and possibly more so. To those who were unaware of its esoteric meaning, the elephant, also suggested a bishop’s mitre, an old man, a count or a fool. To this day in French the man is called Le Fou “the fool” and it is diagramed as a cap and bells.

The English, however, were the first to introduce chess diagrams to printing and since the piece remained a bishop there (and in Iceland) the bishop’s mitre would soon become the worldwide standard. However, Germans use this now universal symbol for their laufer “runner” while Russians use the mitre for their slon “the elephant.”

The evolution of the king’s counselor into the queen has been attributed to the similarity of the Arabic word fere “advisor,” to the French vierge “maiden” but probably can be more simply attributed to the make-up of the feudal court. A parallel between the historical liberation of women and the glorification of Mary by the Church could also have been factors in the metamorphosis.

And finally, a mention should be made of pawns; those so adequately named pieces which are even denied the status of chess ‘men’. They are, without exception in all cultures, represented by conveniently small and humble objects. For these there seems a universal need. History: read it and weep.

There are some 1.7 x 10 to the 29th methods of playing the first ten moves of this ancient and storied game. (The Greeks, clever as they were, didn’t even possess a symbol or number for any number larger than ten to the fourth, a myriad.) This being so, it becomes comprehensible why, while chess has ebbed and flowed through history, it has never been successful as a method of channeling the human mind to that combat of a higher sort.

To be sure, there have been wars of every possible description since its inception some thirteen hundred years ago, and when the number of possible permutations is envisioned even in this relatively simple game, it becomes obvious why there is more than adequate room for that phenomenon, war, in the universal scheme of things. This nightmare, even when contained by a square of sixty-four smaller squares, has the potential to continue in a million billion varying guises for eons on end (and still there would remain variations untried).

When one of the first Caliphs, Omar b. Al-Khattab, was asked if chess were lawful he replied, “There is nothing wrong in it; it has to do with war.”

The Names of Chess Pieces in Some Seventy Languages

Paris, Rome, London follow.

Hong Kong and Sao Paulo break into the Top 10

Barcelona and Miami surge. Mumbai outdistances Delhi.

Austin, Texas. July 20, 2009.   Milan has upended New York after a five year reign as the Top Fashion Capital in the Global Language Monitor’s annual global survey. Topping the list for 2009 were Milan, New York, Paris, Rome and London follow. Other top movers included Hong Kong and Sao Paulo, who broke into the Top 10, while Barcelona and Miami surged. In the ever-tightening battle for the Subcontinent Mumbai outdistanced Delhi, while Sydney further outdistanced Melbourne.

Read:  Milan Strides Past New York as World’s Fashion Capital (Reuters)

“The global economic restructuring has affected the fashion industry just as it has touched everything else,” said Millie L. Payack, director and fashion correspondent for the Global Language Monitor. “The catwalks were still crowded though with the lights dimmer, the hype a bit more restrained, and ‘recessionistas,’ of course, thriving”.

2009 Fashion Capital Media Research #NYFashion

View more documents from Taly Weiss.

Though Milan dethroning New York, the Big Five (Milan, New York, Paris, Rome, and London) continued their domination of global fashion.

The world ‘rag’ business is estimated to be over three trillion USD. Regional rankings are provided below.

This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Predictive Quantities Index, a proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

The Top Thirty Fashion Capitals, change from 2008 ranking, and commentary follow.

1. Milano (+3) – Not only overtakes New York but also Rome and Paris.

2. New York (-1) – Knocked out of Top Spot by Milano after a five-year run.

3. Paris (0) – No 1. in our hearts but No. 3 in the media.

4. Rome (-2) — The Eternal City still reigns strong.

5. London (0) – London remains the laggard of the Fashion Elite.

6. Los Angeles (0) – Holding its own at No. 6.

7. Hong Kong (+4) – Leaps over Sydney and Tokyo to seize the lead in Asia/Pacific.

8. Sao Paulo (+25) – A remarkable rise, now dominating the Latin-American scene.

9. Sydney (-2) – Solidly in the Top 10 while Melbourne sinks.

10. Las Vegas (-2) – Intense media spotlight ensures a top ranking.

11. Dubai (+1) – An unlimited budget continually exceeded.

12. Tokyo (-2) – Loses a bit of luster as it slips out of the Top 10.

13. Miami (+13) – Driven by its dominance in swimwear.

14. Barcelona (+11) – Takes the Iberian spotlight.

15. Shanghai (-2) — Now third in the China/Japan rivalry.

16. Mumbai (+6) – In neck-and-neck race for primacy on the Subcontinent.

17. New Delhi (+7) – Both Delhi and Mumbai break into Top 20.

18. Rio de Janeiro (+12) – Comes on strong but Sao Paulo is stronger.

19. Berlin (-10) – Hurt by weak showing in the ‘haute’ category.

20. Singapore (-6) – Fashion infrastructure strong, but hurt by the economy.

21. Madrid (-6) – Barcelona takes the Iberian crown.

22. Moscow (-6) – Remains strong as it drops out of the Top 20.

23. Santiago (-6) – Now third behind Sao Paulo and Rio in Latin America.

24. Buenos Aires (-4) – Strong in new interpretations of classic fashion.

25. Melbourne (-7) — Slips out of Top 20 as Sydney strives ahead.

26. Stockholm (-7) – Tops in Scandinavia with Copenhagen No. 2.

27. Bangkok (+7) – Breaks into the top tier of Asian Fashion.

28. Krakow (-1) – Hold an increasingly intriguing niche in Middle Europe.

29. Prague (-1) – Strengthening its position as a fashion capitol.

30. Mexico City (Not Listed) – First time on the list.

Others in the ranking in order: Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt

Johannesburg, Cape Town, Atlanta

Regional Rankings:

Asia and Oceania: Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne, Bangkok

Europe: Milano, Paris, Rome, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid, Stockholm, (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt)

India: Mumbai, New Delhi

Latin America: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Buenos Aries, Mexico City

Middle and Eastern Europe: Moscow, Krakow, Prague

Middle East and Africa: Dubai, (Johannesburg, Cape Town)

North America: New York, LA, Las Vegas, Miami, (Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, Atlanta)

.

Paris, Rome, London follow.

Hong Kong and Sao Paulo break into the Top 10

Barcelona and Miami surge. Mumbai outdistances Delhi.

Austin, Texas. July 20, 2009.   Milan has upended New York after a five year reign as the Top Fashion Capital in the Global Language Monitor’s annual global survey. Topping the list for 2009 were Milan, New York, Paris, Rome and London follow. Other top movers included Hong Kong and Sao Paulo, who broke into the Top 10, while Barcelona and Miami surged. In the ever-tightening battle for the Subcontinent Mumbai outdistanced Delhi, while Sydney further outdistanced Melbourne.

“The global economic restructuring has affected the fashion industry just as it has touched everything else,” said Millie L. Payack, director and fashion correspondent for the Global Language Monitor. “The catwalks were still crowded though with the lights dimmer, the hype a bit more restrained, and ‘recessionistas,’ of course, thriving”.

Though Milan dethroning New York, the Big Five (Milan, New York, Paris, Rome, and London) continued their domination of global fashion.

The world ‘rag’ business is estimated to be over three trillion USD. Regional rankings are provided below.

This exclusive ranking is based upon GLM’s Predictive Quantities Index, a proprietary algorithm that tracks words and phrases in print and electronic media, on the Internet and throughout the blogosphere. The words and phrases are tracked in relation to their frequency, contextual usage and appearance in global media outlets.

The Top Thirty Fashion Capitals, change from 2008 ranking, and commentary follow.

1. Milano (+3) – Not only overtakes New York but also Rome and Paris.

2. New York (-1) – Knocked out of Top Spot by Milano after a five-year run.

3. Paris (0) – No 1. in our hearts but No. 3 in the media.

4. Rome (-2) — The Eternal City still reigns strong.

5. London (0) – London remains the laggard of the Fashion Elite.

6. Los Angeles (0) – Holding its own at No. 6.

7. Hong Kong (+4) – Leaps over Sydney and Tokyo to seize the lead in Asia/Pacific.

8. Sao Paulo (+25) – A remarkable rise, now dominating the Latin-American scene.

9. Sydney (-2) – Solidly in the Top 10 while Melbourne sinks.

10. Las Vegas (-2) – Intense media spotlight ensures a top ranking.

11. Dubai (+1) – An unlimited budget continually exceeded.

12. Tokyo (-2) – Loses a bit of luster as it slips out of the Top 10.

13. Miami (+13) – Driven by its dominance in swimwear.

14. Barcelona (+11) – Takes the Iberian spotlight.

15. Shanghai (-2) — Now third in the China/Japan rivalry.

16. Mumbai (+6) – In neck-and-neck race for primacy on the Subcontinent.

17. New Delhi (+7) – Both Delhi and Mumbai break into Top 20.

18. Rio de Janeiro (+12) – Comes on strong but Sao Paulo is stronger.

19. Berlin (-10) – Hurt by weak showing in the ‘haute’ category.

20. Singapore (-6) – Fashion infrastructure strong, but hurt by the economy.

21. Madrid (-6) – Barcelona takes the Iberian crown.

22. Moscow (-6) – Remains strong as it drops out of the Top 20.

23. Santiago (-6) – Now third behind Sao Paulo and Rio in Latin America.

24. Buenos Aires (-4) – Strong in new interpretations of classic fashion.

25. Melbourne (-7) — Slips out of Top 20 as Sydney strives ahead.

26. Stockholm (-7) – Tops in Scandinavia with Copenhagen No. 2.

27. Bangkok (+7) – Breaks into the top tier of Asian Fashion.

28. Krakow (-1) – Hold an increasingly intriguing niche in Middle Europe.

29. Prague (-1) – Strengthening its position as a fashion capitol.

30. Mexico City (Not Listed) – First time on the list.

Others in the ranking in order: Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt

Johannesburg, Cape Town, Atlanta

Regional Rankings:

Asia and Oceania: Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Singapore, Melbourne, Bangkok

Europe: Milano, Paris, Rome, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid, Stockholm, (Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Frankfurt)

India: Mumbai, New Delhi

Latin America: Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, Buenos Aries, Mexico City

Middle and Eastern Europe: Moscow, Krakow, Prague

Middle East and Africa: Dubai, (Johannesburg, Cape Town)

North America: New York, LA, Las Vegas, Miami, (Dallas, Toronto, Montreal, Atlanta)

About the Global Language Monitor

Austin, Texas-based Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture. GLM’s staff and a global network of academics, professional wordsmiths and bibliophiles, monitor the latest trends in the evolution of language, word usage and word choices.

Payack’s latest book is A Million Words and Counting: How the English Language is Rewriting the World (Kensington: New York, 2008).

The GLM has been cited by CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters, Associated Press, UPI, Knight-Ridder, USAToday, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, The New York Times, NPR, Fox News, ABC, NBC, CBS, Chinese People’s Daily, The Sydney Morning Herald, The BBC, the Australian Broadcasting Company, CBC, The Cape Town Argus, El Pais (Madrid), The Daily Mail (Scotland), The Hindustan Times, The Gulf News (Qatar), and various electronic and print media on six continents. For more information, call 1.925.367.7557 or go to www.LanguageMonitor.com.

English Language Millionth Word Finalists Announced, including:  alcopops, bangster, de-friend, n00b, quendy-trendy, slumdog, and wonderstar

English to Pass Millionth Word June 10 at 10:22 am GMT

Million Word March Now Stands at 999,824

Austin, Texas May 29, 2009 – The Global Language Monitor today announced the finalists for the Million Word March.  The English Language will cross the 1,000,000 word threshold on June 10, 2009 at 10:22 am Stratford-Upon-Avon time.

“The Million Word milestone brings to notice the coming of age of English as the first, truly global Language”, said Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of the Global Language Monitor.  “There are three major trends involving the English language today: 1) An explosion in word creation; English words are being added to the language at the rate of some 14.7 words a day; 2) a geographic explosion where some 1.53 billion people now speak English around the globe as a primary, auxiliary, or business language; and 3) English has become, in fact, the first truly global language.”

Due to the global extent of the English language, the Millionth Word is as likely to appear from India, China, or East L.A.as it is to emerge from Stratford-upon-Avon (Shakespeare’s home town). The final words and phrases under consideration are listed below.  These words represent each of the categories of Global English that GLM tracks, Since English appears to be adding a new word every 98 minutes or about 14.7 words a day, the Global Language Monitor is selecting a representative sampling.  You can follow the English Language WordClock counting down to the one millionth word at www.LanguageMonitor.com.

These words that are on the brink of entering the language as the finalists for the One Millionth English Word: 

Australia:  Alchopops – Sugary-flavored mixed drinks very much en vogue.

Chinglish:  Chengguan –   Urban management officers, a cross between mayors, sheriff, and city managers.

Economics:  1) Financial Tsunami – The global financial restructuring that seemingly swept out of nowhere, wiping out trillions of dollars of assets, in a matter of months.  2) Zombie Banks – Banks that would be dead if not for government intervention and cash infusion. 

Entertainment:  Jai Ho! — From the Hindi, “it is accomplished’ achieved English-language popularity through the multiple Academy Award Winner, “Slumdog Millionaire”.

Fashion: 1) Chiconomics – The ability to maintain one’s fashion sense (chicness) amidst the current financial crisis.  2) Recessionista – Fashion conscious who use the Global economic restructuring to their financial benefit; 3) Mobama – relating to the fashion-sense of the US First Lady, as in ‘that is quite mobamaish’.

Popular Culture:  Octomom (the media phenomenon of the mother of the octuplets).

Green Living:  1) Green washing – Re-branding an old product as environmentally friendly. 2) E-vampire – Appliances and machines on standby-mode, which continually use electrical energy they ‘sleep’. 3) Slow food: — Food other than the fast-food variety hopefully produced locally (locavores).

Hinglish:   Cuddies – Ladies’ underwear or panties.

Internet:  1) De-follow – No longer following the updates of someone on a social networking site.  2) De-friend – No longer following the updates of a friend on a social networking site; much harsher than de-following. 3) Web 2.0 – The next generation of web services.

Language: Toki Pona – The only language (constructed or natural) with a trademark.

Million Word March:   MillionWordWord — Default entry if no other word qualifies.

Music:  Wonderstar – as in Susan Boyle, an overnight sensation, exceeding all realsonable expectations.

Poland:  Bangsters – A description of those responsible for ‘predatory’ lending practices, from a combination of the words banker and gangster.

Politically incorrect:  1) Slumdog – a formerly disparaging comments upon those residing in the slums of India; 2) Seatmates of size – US airline euphemism for passengers who carry enough weight to require two seats.

Politics:  1) Carbon neutral — One of the many phrases relating to the effort to stem Climate Change.  2) Overseas Contingency Operations – The Obama re-branding of the Bush War on Terror.

Sports:  Phelpsian – The singular accomplishments of Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics.

Spirituality:  Renewalist – Movements that encompass renewal of the spirit; also call ‘Spirit-filled’ movements.

Technology:  1) Cloud Computing – The ‘cloud’ has been technical jargon for the Internet for many years.  It is now passing into more general usage. 2) N00b — From the Gamer Community; a neophyte in playing a particular game; used as a disparaging term.  3) Sexting – Sending email (or text messages) with sexual content.

YouthSpeak:  Quendy-Trendy — British youth speak for hip or up-to-date.

Extra Credit:

French word with least chance of entering English Language:  le courriel – E-Mail.

Most recognized English-language word on the planet:  O.K.

Each word is being analyzed to determine which is attaining the greatest depth (number of citations) and breadth (geographic extent of word usage), as well as number appearances in the global print and electronic media, the Internet, the blogosphere, and social media (such as Twitter and YouTube).  The Word with the highest PQI score will be deemed the 1,000,000th English language word.  The Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) is used to track and analyze word usage.

Global Language Monitor has been tracking English word creation since 2003.  Once it identifies new words (or neologisms) it measures their extent and depth of usage with its PQI technology.

In Shakespeare’s day, there were only 2,000,000 speakers of English and fewer than 100,000 words.  Shakespeare himself coined about 1,700 words.  Thomas Jefferson invented about 200 words, and George W. Bush created a handful, the most prominent of which is, misunderestimate.  US President Barack Obama’s surname passed into wordhood last year with the rise of obamamania.

About The Global Language Monitor

Austin-Texas-based Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture, with a particular emphasis upon Global English.  For more information, email info@ GlobalLanguageMonitor.com, visit www.LanguageMonitor.com, or call +1.925.367.7557.

A Million Words and Counting

If you are interested in learning more about the Million Word March, you can read about it in “A Million Words and Counting” by Paul JJ Payack.  This book from Kensington’s Citadel imprint takes you on a whirlwind tour of the English language and it dramatic impact on the various aspects of culture, including politics, the economy, entertainment, commerce and technology.  Now available as a quality paperback.

GLM In the News: A Selection

The Global Language Monitor is used as a media source for the print and electronic media around the globe.

On the average,  hundreds of news articles around the world incorporate GLM research every month.

Current examples are linked directly into the articles on the GLM page.)

Here a few that provide a representative sampling.

Stevenson Swanson (Chicago Tribune) on Billary, blankie, locavore: English language gone wild

Colleen Ross (CBC) on Chinglish: Lost in Translation

Nikki Tundel (MPR) on Climate Change

RAI UNO on GLM’s Top Fashion Capitals

Ryan Smith (The Blade) on 1,000,000 words

Joe Burris (The Sun) on Four-letter Words

ZD net on the Most Confusing Acronym (SOA)

NY Times’ Safire acknowledges existence of HollyWords that GLM has been highlighting since 2004

Ben MacIntyre (London Times) on sexiness of large vocabulary

Wikipedeia: GLM citation named as Landmark in its history

Hindustan Times: Arabs ahead of the English in cyberspace?

Der Spiegel: Chinglish Die Sache mit dem ding

Washington Post’s Millionth Word Contest Results Here

Other Language Stats: Number, Top Ten, On the Internet, by Country, etc.

The Million Word March: 900,000 and Counting! Listen to Day-to-Day (NPR)

People’s Daily (China): Many Chinglish into English

The Sunday Times (London): Chinglish – It’s a word in a million

Connecticut Post:Getting the word out – for the Millionth Time

Enumerating English: Geoffrey Nunberg (NPR/Fresh Air) Can’t Count Words; Who Cares!?

Global English by Neil Reynolds: Spread the Word, English is Unstoppable

Independent News (London): Chinglish Phrases on the Rise

USAToday: Colbert’s ‘Truthiness’ Strikes a Chord

MSNBC: ‘Truthiness’ Among Top TV Buzzwords of the Year

HollyWORDS: Just Plain Bill banned in Hollywood Name Game

The New York Times: The Real Estate Bubble – The Power of Words Click Here

Complete Coverage of the 2008 Elections

Nicholas D. Kristof: Obama and the war on brains

Obama “Yes, We Can” Speech Ranked With “I have a Dream,” “Tear Down this Wall,” and JFK Inaugural

Austin, TX, USA November 7, 2008 – In an analysis completed earlier today, the Global Language Monitor has found that Barak Obama’s “Yes, We Can” speech delivered Tuesday night in Chicago’s Grant Park ranked favorably in tone, tenor and rhetorical flourishes with memorable political addresses of the recent past including Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech, “Tear Down his Wall,” by Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address. GLM, has been tracking the language used in the debates and speeches of the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates throughout the bruising 2008 campaign. In nearly every category, from grade level to the use of passive voice, even the average numbers of letters in the words he chose, Obama’s Victory Speech was very similar in construction to the speeches of King, Reagan and Kennedy.

Obama Speech a Winner

“As is appropriate for a forward-looking message of hope and reconciliation, words of change and hope, as well as future-related constructions dominated the address,” said Paul JJ Payack President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor. “Evidently, Obama is at his best at connecting with people at the 7th to 8th grade range, communicating directly to his audience using simple yet powerful rhetorical devices, such as the repetition of the cadenced phrase ‘Yes, we can’, which built to a powerful conclusion.”

Obama’s Victory Speech also was similar in construction to his 2004 Democratic Convention address, which first brought him to widespread national attention.

The statistical breakdown follows.

	Obama Victory Speech		Obama 2004 Convention
Words	2049		2238
Sentences/Paragraph	1.8		2
Words/Sentence	18.9		20.0
Characters/Word	4.2		4.3
Reading Ease	72.4		67.5
Passive	11%		8%
Grade Level	7.4		8.3

For a future-oriented message of hope and vision the passive voice was used frequently but effectively. Examples include: “There will be setbacks and false starts. It was also noted that Obama spoke in the authoritative voice of the future Commander-in-Chief with such phrasings as, “To those who would tear the world down – We will defeat you. Some commentators noticed the absence of the collapse of the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers in the 2001 terrorist attacks from Obama’s catalogue of significant events of last 106 years. Historical comparisons follow.

Kennedy Inaugural Address	10.8
Reagan ‘Tear Down This Wall”	9.8
Lincoln “Gettysburg Address”	9.1
Martin Luther King: ”I have a dream”	8.8
Obama 2004 Democrat Convention	8.3
Obama Victory Speech “Yes, we can”	7.4

‘Change’, ‘Cataclysmic Events,’ and ‘Global Financial Tsunami’ Dominate Concerns of the American Electorate on Nov. 4

Austin, TX, USA November 4, 2008 – In an analysis completed just hours before voting began for the 2008 the USPresidential Elections, Austin, Texas-based Global Language Monitor has found that ‘Change’, ‘‘Cataclysmic Events,’ and ‘Global Financial Tsunami’ related words and phrases dominate the Top Ten Concerns of the American Electorate on Nov. 4, 2008.

The results are based on an on-going 18-month analysis of the political language and buzzwords used throughout the presidential since before the primaries began.  GLM’s uses its PQI Index, a proprietary algorithm that scours the global print and electronic media, the Internet, and blogosphere for ‘hot’ political buzzwords and then ranks them according to year-over-year change, acceleration and directional momentum. Political buzzwords are terms or phrases that become loaded with emotional freight beyond the normal meaning of the word.

Top Ten Concerns of the American Electorate on November 4, 2008.

1. Change is key. Change favors Obama over McCain 3:2.

2. Cataclysmic events, global warming and climate change rank higher than all other issues except change.

3. The Global Financial Tsunami and related terms permeate the Election and is that persistent low-humming heard in the background.

4. Experience counts. Experience favors McCain over Obama 4:3.

5. Concerns persist about Obama’s experience, background, and past and current associations.

6. Gender is ongoing issue: it began with Hillary and continues with Palin though it is disguised in all sorts of well-meaning platitudes.

7. For many in this campaign, gender actually trumps race.

8. For all the concern about race, it actually seems to be having a positive effect on the Obama campaign, in its an ongoing, just beneath the surface dialogue, with millions (both black and white) voting for Obama precisely BECAUSE he is a black man. This is viewed as separating us (and in some sense liberating us) from a long, painful history.

9. Working Class Whites IS used as a code word for whites who are working class. No other moniker, such as Reagan Democrats or Soccer Moms has caught on in this election cycle.

10.  Obama, to his great credit, is no longer perceived as ‘aloof’.

What’s the advantage of the PQI over the Polls?

According to Paul JJ Payack, president and chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor:

The PQI is, perhaps, the ultimate ‘It is what it is’ measurement of consumer (and in this case Political) sentiment. The PQI simply measures the occurrence of certain words or phrases in the print and electronic media (traditional or otherwise), on the Internet, and across the Blogosphere. It is by its very nature non-biased. When we take a statistical snapshot for the PQI there is no adjustment for ‘underrepresented’ groups, there are no assumptions about probability of turnout, the proportions of newly registered voters, traditional models, or expanded modularities. Rather we take our measurements, check for the rate of positive or negative change in the appearance of a searched word or phrase (what we call velocity and) and publish our results. In other words, it is what it is. Using this methodology, GLM was the only media analytics organization that foresaw the ’04 electorate voting with their moral compasses rather than their pocketbooks.”

The Top Political Buzzwords for the 2006 Midterm Elections included:  Throes, Quagmire, Credibility, Global Warming, and Insurgency; the Top Political Buzzwords from the 2004 Campaign included:  Swift Boats, Flip Flop, Quagmire, Fahrenheit 911, Misleader, and Liar!

Top 10 Things Political Buzzwords Tell Us About the Vote

Austin, TX, USA November 3, 2008 – In an analysis completed just 48 hours before the US Presidential Elections theGlobal Language Monitor has announced the final installment of the Top Political Buzzwords of the 2008 Presidential Campaign. GLM, has been tracking the buzzwords in this election cycle for some eighteen months. Political buzzwords are terms or phrases that become loaded with emotional freight beyond the normal meaning of the word. For example, the word surge has been in the English-language vocabulary since time immemorial.  However, in its new context as an Iraq War strategy, it inspires a set of emotions in many people far beyond the norm.

According to Paul JJ Payack, president and chief word analyst of Global Language Monitor:

1. The electorate appears to be more advanced in its thinking than either party (or platform). Taken as a whole their concerns center upon uncontrollable, cataclysmic events such as the global financial meltdown and climate change (Nos. 1 and 2), while raising taxes (No. 22) or cutting taxes (No. 27) are lesser (though still important) concerns.
2. The phrase ‘Financial Meltdown’ has broken into the Top 20, jumping some 2600% in usage over the last month.
3. Change is the topmost concern. Though change from what to what remains a good question. ‘Change’ is,without question the top word of this campaign. Both candidates are benefitting from the mantra; however Obama holds a 3:2 edge over McCain in this regard.
4. The second-most discussed term of the campaign barely surfaces in most media reports, and this is the combination of ‘Climate Change’ and/or ‘Global Warming’.
5. Experience (No. 5) counts. A lot. Especially, if that experience can serve as a guide through the current series of cataclysmic events. McCain edges Obama 4:3 in the experience category. But Obama is given significant credit as a quick (and judicious) study.
6. Everyone is talking about race (No. 16) except, apparently, the electorate. It is a Top Twenty issue, but it’s nestled between Joe the Plumber and Obama’s smoking.
7. Iraq is now a non-issue. No. 8, Surge,and its apparent success has settled the argument, so it is no longer a question of victory or defeat. Even Al Qaeda has lost its grip on the electorate, falling some 11 spots in two weeks.
8. Palin (Nos 14 and 21) is a ‘go-to’ subject for the media and campaigns alike, with both sides thinking they gain tremendous leverage in her disparagement or apotheosis.
9. Tony Rezko (No. 23), Acorn (No. 24) and Jeremiah Wright (No. 26) are indeed issues, but are viewed as minor, settled or both for the Obama campaign.
10. The word, aloof, as related to Obama is no longer on the list.  At the end of the Primary season in June, it was No 14 and a major concern of the Obama campaign.  Obama has apparently overcome this sense of aloofness.

The ranking of Top Election Buzzwords of the 2008 Presidential Campaign and commentary follow.

	Presidential Campaign PQI 11.2.08	Comment
Rank
1	Change	Obama has a 3:2 Edge over McCain with Change
2	Climate Change	Global warming within 1/2 of 1% for the overall lead
3	Gasoline	Up 2 this week as prices fall
4	Recession	Does a global financial meltdown count as a recession?
5	Experience	Down 2; McCain has 4:3 Edge Here
6	Obama Muslim	A continued presence in Cyberspace
7	Subprime	How we got into this mess in the first place
8	Surge	One of the Top Words from ’07 now taking a victory lap
9	“That one”	Has spurred the Obama base with ‘I’m for That One’ slogans
10	“Just Words”	Oh Hillary, what hath thou wrought?
11	Gender	Up dramatically since fall campaign though down for week
12	Working Class Whites	Still the object of much affection AND derision
13	Price of oil	More discussion as price declines; up 5
14	Palin Swimsuit	On SNL Alec Baldwin claimed Balin’s ‘way hotter in person’
15	Joe the Plumber	Now making appearances with McCain; up 5
16	Racism (election)	Belies all the media buzz; now in top 20
17	Obama smoking	Down 5 but still in Top Twenty
18	Financial meltdown	Now buzzworthy, indeed.
19	Wall Street Bailout	As reality of global financial meltdown sets in, down 6
20	Internet fundraising	Hangs in there as a hot buzzword at 20
21	Lipstick	Drops dramatically over the last survey; down 10
22	Raise taxes	Raise Taxes No 22; cut taxes No. 27.  Ho Hum.
23	Rezko	Obama’s relationship with Tony Rezko gains one
24	Acorn Voter Reg	Loses a couple as interest apparently wanes
25	Al Qaeda election	Lurking beneath the surface but falls out of Top Twenty
26	Jeremiah Wright	Dr. Wright remains on the radar though falling five more spots
27	Cut taxes	Raise Taxes No 22; cut taxes No. 27.  Ho Hum.
28	Hockey Mom	Causes headlines but not a top issue
29	Nuclear Iran	Drops one more spot since last survey
30	Wash Talking Heads	Not a good week for the Cognoscenti; down 15

The ranking is determined by GLM’s PQI Index, a proprietary algorithm that scours the global print and electronic media, the Internet, and blogosphere for ‘hot’ political buzzwords and then ranks them according to year-over-year change, acceleration and directional momentum.  Using this methodology, GLM was the only media analytics organization that foresaw the ’04 electorate voting with their moral compasses rather than their pocketbooks.

The Top Political Buzzwords for the 2006 Midterm Elections included:  Throes, Quagmire, Credibility, Global Warming, and Insurgency; the Top Political Buzzwords from the 2004 Campaign included:  Swift Boats, Flip Flop, Quagmire, Fahrenheit 911, Misleader, and Liar!

Listen to the Interview on WNYC/PRI

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The Final Debate:  Obama & McCain Differ Sharply

Obama Doubles Use of Passive Voice Over McCain

Memorable quotes: ‘Joe the Plumber’; ‘I am not President Bush’

Austin, Texas, USA.   October 16, 2008.  In a linguistic analysis of the final Presidential Debate between Barack Obama and John McCain, the Global Language Monitor has found that in sharp contrast to prior debates, Obama’s use of the passive voice doubled that of McCain (and was significantly higher than he typically uses).  The use of the passive voice is considered significant in political speech because audiences generally respond better to active voice, which they tend to view asmore direct.  On a grade-level basis, Obama came in at 9.3 with McCain scoring grade level, while McCain came in at 7.4, a difference of nearly two grade levels.  The debate took place at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, New York.   The statistical breakdown follows.

	Obama	McCain	Difference
Words	7,146	6,562	584
Words/Sentence	19.4	15.2	4.2
Sentences/Paragraph	2.0	2.1	5%
Characters/Word	4.4	4.4	0%
Passive Voice (%)	6%	3%	100%
Reading Ease	62.6	68.6	6
Grade level	9.3	7.4	1.9

Using industry-standard tools and techniques, GLM ranks the candidates’ speech on a number of levels from grade-reading level, the use of the passive voice, a reading ease score (the higher, the easiest to understand), the number of words per sentence, the number of characters per word, among others.

“Again, word choice and usage speaks volumes,” said Paul JJ Payack, GLM’s President & Chief Word Analyst. “Obama came in at a higher grade level than his previous efforts, but McCain was somewhat easier to understand.  Obama’s significantly higher use of the passive voice combined with his frequent use of the word ‘I’ perhaps indicated an impatience with his opponent  last witnessed in his debates with Hillary Clinton.”

Read:   L’Histoire’s    La Langue des Campagnes

Obama used the personal pronoun, ‘I’ about 158 times in the debate, while McCain used the word some 119 times.

Memorable phrases include more than a dozen references to ‘Joe the Plumber,’ one Joe Wurzelbacher of Holland, Ohio, and John McCain’s ‘I am not President Bush’ retort to Sen. Obama’s attempt to link his policies to those of the current president.

Obama the Intellectual

Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times

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For comparison purposes, here are the results last week’s Town-hall style debate. That debate was notable in the fact that the questions asked by the audience outdistanced both Obama and McCain in the grade-level ranking category.  Perhaps, the most memorable phrase from that debate is perhaps ‘’That one!” the term McCain used to refer to Obama.  “That One” has already joined GLM’s analysis of the Top Political Buzzwords of the 2008 Campaign.

	Obama	McCain	Difference
Words	7,146	6,562	584
Words/Sentence	19.4	15.2	4.2
Sentences/Paragraph	2.0	2.1	5%
Characters/Word	4.4	4.4	0%
Passive Voice (%)	6%	3%	100%
Reading Ease	62.6	68.6	6
Grade level	9.3	7.4	1.9

Top Buzzwords of Presidential Campaign: Two Weeks Out

Bailout falls dramatically; Experience and Gender Rise

‘Change’ and ’Global Warming/Climate Change’ in statistical tie for top

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Austin, TX, USA October 21, 2008 – In an analysis completed just two weeks before the US Presidential Elections the Global Language Monitor has announced that Change and Climate Change remain in a statistical tie for top spot in its list of Political Buzzwords of the 2008 Presidential Campaign, with Bailout falling dramatically to No. 13.

“In the Change ranking, Obama outdistanced McCain by a 3:2 ratio, while in the No. 2 Experience ranking, McCain held a 3:2 edge over Obama,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor. “Joe the Plumber and ACORN voter registration references broke into the Top 25, at No. 19 and No. 22, respectively. In a related finding, Gender (No. 10) continued to rise as Race (No. 20) continued to fall, raising the question if gender is the new race?”

Political buzzwords are terms or phrases that become loaded with emotional freight beyond the normal meaning of the word.  For example, the word surge has been in the English-language vocabulary since time immemorial.  However, in its new context as an Iraq War strategy, it inspires a set of emotions in many people far beyond the norm. The rank of Top Election Buzzwords, past rank, and commentary follow.

1. Change (1) — Obama has a 3:2 edge over McCain with Change

2. Climate Change (2) — Global warming within 1/2 of 1% for the overall lead

3. Experience (5) — McCain has 3:2 edge over Obama with Experience

4. Recession (4) — World economy imploding but still not officially a ‘recession’

5. Gasoline (6) — Up one as the price dropsa1

6. Obama Muslim Connection (8) — A persistent topic in Cyberspace; up 2

7. Subprime (7) — How we got into this mess in the first place

8. Surge (10) — One of the Top Words from ‘07 moving up ‘ 08 chart

9. “That one” (12) – The remark has spurred the Obama base: ‘I’m for That One’

10. Gender (9) – Is ‘gender’ the new ‘race’?

11. Lipstick (13) — Any talk of Lipstick seems to spur McCain-Palin base

12. Obama smoking (11) – Surprise here; continues to draw interest

13. Bailout (3) – Bailout, as a word, dramatically slipping as reality of the entire debacle sets in

14. “Just Words” (20) — Hillary’s comment on Obama still echoes through the media

15. Washington Talking Heads (21) – Up six this past week alone

16. Palin Swimsuit (24) – Fueled by Alec Baldwin on SNL: Balin’s ‘way hotter in person’

17. Al Qaeda (14) — Always lurking beneath the surface

18. Price of oil (15) – Weakens as price declines

19. Joe the Plumber (NR) – Breaks into Top 25 in debut

20. Race (16) – Continues to drop in media buzz

21. Jeremiah Wright (19) — Dr. Wright remains on the radar, down from No.2 at start

22. Acorn Voter Registration (NR) – Debuts in Top 25; dramatic move over last week

23. Internet fundraising (17) — Loses luster as story; down 6 more spots

24. Rezko (25) — Obama’s relationship with Tony Rezko breaks into Top 25

25. Raise taxes (18) Raise Taxes No 25; cut taxes No. 27: Are you Listening

Others

26. Hockey Mom (22) – Loses a bit of steam

27. Cut taxes (26) Both ‘cut’ and ‘raise’ down this week, again

28. Nuclear Iran (23) Peaked out at No. 18

The ranking is determined by GLM’s PQI Index, a proprietary algorithm that scours the global print and electronic media, the Internet, and blogosphere for ‘hot’ political buzzwords and then ranks them according to year-over-year change, acceleration and directional momentum.  Using this methodology, GLM was the only media analytics organization that foresaw the ’04 electorate voting with their moral compasses rather than their pocketbooks.

The Top Political Buzzwords for the 2006 Midterm Elections included:  Throes, Quagmire, Credibility, Global Warming, and Insurgency; the Top Political Buzzwords from the 2004 Campaign included:  Swift Boats, Flip Flop, Quagmire, Fahrenheit 911, Misleader, and Liar!

The US Presidential Election and the Financial Tsunami

Seemingly chaotic events reflect normalcy of new reality

A Historical Inflection Point

Austin, Texas, USA. October 13, 2008. The worldwide financial tsunami that has captured the attention of the worldwide media (as well as governments, corporations and ordinary citizens), has come to dominate one of the great quadrennial media events of the post-Modern era. No, we are not referring to the Olympics, most recently held in Beijing, or even football’s World Cup but, rather, the US Presidential elections.

The immediate effect of this unprecedented upheaval of global markets is the obfuscation of the clear lines of division offered by the opposing parties in the US Presidential Elections.

There is the sense that we are witnessing an unprecedented historical event; historical in the sense that we now appear to be standing astride (or atop) a cusp in history, a delta, a decision point, what is now called a point of inflection or inflection point.

Watching the nightly news and reading the traditional (for the last two centuries, that is) media, one has the distinct sense that what they perceive as unprecedented almost chaotic circumstances is actually that of the normalcy of the new reality, that of communications at the speed of light that the internet has foisted upon us.

We keep hearing about this most unusual of election cycles, but this is only true when looking through the prism (and historical construct) of the traditional news gathering operations. What is called the 24-hour News Cycle is actually just the tip of the Tsunami washing over the planet at a steady speed and ever-quicker pace. Indeed, the nature of the beast hasn’t change at all. It is our outdated techniques, that haven’t kept up with the new reality: News now emanates at the speed of thought, from tens of thousands or, even, millions of sources.

The nature of a Tsunami is little understood other than the tremendous damage it unleashes when it washes ashore. What we do know, however, is that a tsunami travels in exceedingly long waves (tens of kilometers in length) racing through the oceanic depths at hundreds of kilometers per hour. Only upon reaching the shore is its true destructive power unleashed for all to see (if they survive to witness it at all).

In the same manner, the traditional media become transfixed with the roiling surface seas but fail to acknowledge the more sustained and significant, movements occurring just beneath the surface.

The surface swirls about in fascinating eddies, but the true transformation is occurring as the nearly undetectable waves rush through the open sea only occasionally, though dramatically, making their way onto shore.

In the same manner, the traditional media focuses on the Twenty-four-hour News Cycle but seem to miss the strong and prevalent currents immediately beneath the surface. They vainly attempt to tie global, transformative, and unprecedented events to relatively parochial events and forces (the Reagan Years, the Clinton administration, Bush 41 and 43, the de-regulation initiatives of Alan Greenspan of ‘99) that are being all but over-shadowed (and –whelmed) by unyielding and all-but irresistible forces.

There is an almost palpable sense and correct sense that things are 1) changing forever, 2) out of our control (or even influence), and 3) will have a direct impact upon the planet for generations to follow.

What we can control, and make sense of, however, is a candidate’s wink, smirk or disdainful reference. We can emphatically pin down our opponents into convenient sound bites, hopefully contradicting earlier sound bites. Do you personally take responsibility for Climate Change? (Does the fact that New York City was beneath 5,000 feet of Ice a few dozen centuries ago influence your vote today? A yes or no will suffice!) Is your personal philosophy, whatever it might be, grounded in a belief system that I can systematically debunk and demean. (Yes or no.) Are you for or against atom smashers creating miniscule black holes that may or may not swallow up the Earth? (Answer yes and you are a barbarian; answer no and you have absolutely no respects of the future prospects of the human race.) Did you ever consider yourself a loser (at any point in your life)? Did you ever make the acquaintance of fellow losers?

Nevertheless, the US Presidential Election will proceed to its own conclusion on the first Tuesday of November in the year two thousand and eight.

For the preceding five years, The Global Language Monitor has attempted to clarify the course (and future course) of human events as documented in the English language. The tools at our disposal have sometimes allowed us to peer into events and trends that become, otherwise, obscured, by the ‘noise’ of the Twenty-four Hour News Cycle. Our goal was, and continues to be, to extricate (and explicate upon) the true currents underpinning the events we call news, and to better understand what they mean and how they are perceived with the new media reality in mind. For example, back in the days preceding the 2004 Presidential election cycle, GLM discovered the fact that once ideas, words and phrases were launched into the vast, uncharted, oceanic Internet, they do not, indeed, die out after twenty-four hours but, rather, travel in deep, powerful currents and waves (not unlike those of a tsunami) that only grow stronger as they make their ways to distant shores.

In this new reality, tsunami-like ideas pass through vast seas of information of the Internet, nearly undetected and often unmeasured, until they crash upon our shorelines, where their full power (and possibly fury) is unleashed. The fact that we only entertain them for 24 hours before they are dispatched into the archives of what is considered ‘past’ or ‘passed’ and readily discarded, is beyond the point. We often hear that ‘we’ve never seen anything like this’ before. Of course not. Think back a few hundred years to other information revolutions, such as that introduced along with mechanical type. What do you think the fortunate few thought when they first laid their eyes upon the works of Aristotle, the Bible, or the Arabic translations of Euclid? No one had ever seen anything like that before! Indeed. And astonishment will only become more so as the future unfolds.

– Paul JJ Payack, President & Chief Word Analyst, The Global Language Monitor

Vice Presidential Debate Linguistic Analysis:

Palin at 10th Grade-level; Biden at 8th Grade-level

Palin’s use of passive voice highest of the 2008 Debates

Read about CNN’s take on the GLM debate analysis.

The Debate on the Debate on the

An Analysis of the Analysis

Austin, Texas, USA.   October 3, 2008. The first and only vice presidential debate of the 2008 Campaign has resulted in Governor Sarah Palin, the republican nominee for vice president speaking at a 10^th grade level, with Senator Joe Biden coming in at an 8^th grade level.  Also noteworthy was the fact that Gov. Palin’s use of passive voice was the highest (at 8%) of the 2008 Presidential and Vice Presidential debates thus far.  The analysis was performed by The Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com), the Austin, Texas-based media analytics and analysis company.

GLM ranks the candidates’ speech on a number of levels from grade-reading level, the use of the passive voice, ‘a readability’ score (the closer to one hundred the easiest to understand, the number of words per sentence, even the number of characters per word.

The statistical breakdown follows.

Notes:  The excessive use of passive voice can be used to obscure responsibility, since there is no ‘doer of the action’.  For example, ‘Taxes will be raised’ is a passive construction, while ‘I will raise (or lower) taxes’ is an active construction.  Five percent is considered average; low for a politician.

By way of comparison, the ranking by grade-levels for historical debates follow.

The number of words is considered approximate, since transcripts vary.

The methodology employed is a modified Flesch-Kincaid formulation.

The First Presidential Debate:

A ‘Linguistic Dead Heat’ — with One Exception

In true professorial fashion, Obama averages some 20 more words per minute

Austin, Texas, USA.   September 28, 2008. The first presidential debate of the 2008 Campaign resulted in a ‘Linguistic Dead Heat’ according to an analysis performed by The Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com).  In nearly every category, from grade level to the use of passive voice, even the average numbers of letters in the words they chose, the candidates remained within the statistical margin of error with one major exception.  In the Number of Words category that the candidates used to convey their messages, Obama, in true professorial style, outdistanced McCain by some thousand words, which breaks down to an average of about 20 more words per minute.

“As in the famous Harvard-Yale game back in 1968, Harvard declared a victory after securing a come-from-behind 29-29 tie.   In the same manner, both sides in the debate have declared victory in an essential deadlocked outcome,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of GLM. “Look at the debate as a football game.  Both teams effectively moved the ball.  However, the scoring was low, and the quarterbacks performed as expected, with McCain completing some excellently thrown passes only to have others blocked by Obama.  Obama’s ground game was more impressive, churning out the yards — but he had difficulty getting the ball over the goal line.”

The statistical breakdown follows.

Notes:  The excessive use of passive voice can be used to obscure responsibility, since there is no ‘doer of the action’.  For example, ‘Taxes will be raised’ is a passive construction, while ‘I will raise (or lower) taxes’ is an active construction.  Five percent is considered low.

What are they saying in China?

McCain’s Speech Comes in at the Third Grade Level

Most Direct of all Speakers at Either Convention

Palin & Obama Speech Score Nearly Identical

Top 225+ US Colleges & Universities Report (Nov 2009)

Read:  Harvard Brand Takes a Hit in Tough Economic Times

Listen to:  the article in English from China Daily

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Top 225 Colleges in US ranked by Media Buzz

MIchigan and MIT displace Harvard atop Media Buzz Ranking

—Harvard declines 20%; endowment troubles cited

—Public Ivies and Technology-focused institutions thrive

Wellesley tops Colorado and Williams among colleges

—First Women’s College atop Liberal Arts Rankings

—Liberal Arts colleges hold their own on Media Buzz

First Rankings to Include Online, Business, Tech Hybrid, Art, Design and Music Schools

Colleges Ranked by State

Austin, Texas November 9, 2009. In an exclusive TrendTopper MediaBuzz™ analysis of the nation’s colleges and universities, the Global Language Monitor has ranked the nation’s Top 200 colleges and universities according their appearance in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet throughout the blogosphere, and including social media such as Twitter. The GLM rankings were also the first to include specialty schools, such as Art, Business, Music and Engineering schools, as well as online universities.

Read the Reaction from Michigan, Harvard, Yale and Wisconsin

In the University category, there appeared to be a ‘flight to quality’ with the consumer perception of quality being the price-sensitive ‘public ivies’ and technology-centered schools, epitomized by the University of Michigan moving up three places to the top spot. Harvard saw a decline in Media Buzz citations of some 20%, perhaps reflecting its endowment taking an $11 billion hit including some $1.8 billion from the general fund. Other major movers include MIT jumping from No. 16 to No. 2 affirmed the technology trend, North Carolina, another public ivy, moved into the Top Ten, with California—Berkeley moving from No.10 to No. 6.

In the College category, Wellesley overtook Colorado College, Williams and Amherst to claim the No. 1 position, a first for a women’s college. Pomona College, one of California’s Claremont Colleges re-emerged in the Top Ten, and Eugene Lang College of New School University debuted at a very strong No. 9. Overall the College Media Buzz was generally up in contrast to that of the private schools on the Universities list.

“This year we’ve witnessed the impact the Global Financial Restructuring has had upon the US higher education system. On the University level there has been a small but dramatic reordering of the hierarchy, which has remained virtually unshaken for many years,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst at GLM. “However, Liberal arts colleges, the public ivies, and engineering-focused schools appear to have held onto, or actually increased their ‘brand equity’.”

Click here for States Ranked by Number of Top Colleges

This List just might surprise you!

Since TrendTopper MediaBuzz ranks overall media awareness and strength of a school’s ‘brand’ or reputation, the Global Language Monitor included specialty schools, such as Art, Business, Design, Music and Engineering schools, as well as online universities. All these were included in the College category with the exception of the online university, which was assigned to the University category.

The Top Specialty schools listed in their categories as well as overall rank are listed below.

• The Top Business school was Babson College was the Top Business (67 overall, college).

• The Top Art and Design schools were Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) (27 overall, college), Pratt Institute (28 overall, college), and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (47 overall, college).

• The Top Engineering school was The Cooper Union (38 overall, college).

• The Top Music Schools were the Julliard School (50 overall, college), the New England Conservatory of Music (96 overall, college), and Berklee College (99 overall, college).

• The Top Online University was the University of Phoenix, USA (37 overall, university).

• The Top Christian was Wheaton College, IL (16 overall, college),

• The Top Military Academies were the United States Naval Academy (20 overall, college), the United States Military Academy (48 overall, college) and the United States Air Force Academy (61 overall, college).

For the complete list of the top Specialty schools, go here.

The Top Twenty-five Universities are listed here.

1 University of Michigan—Ann Arbor, MI
2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA
3 Harvard University, MA
4 Columbia University, NY
5 University of Chicago, IL
6 University of California—Berkeley, CA
7 University of Wisconsin—Madison , WI
8 Stanford University, CA
9 University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill, NC
10 Cornell University, NY
11 Yale University, CT
12 Princeton University, NJ
13 University of Pennsylvania, PA
14 University of California—Los Angeles, CA
15 University of Washington, WA
16 University of Minnesota, MN
17 New York University, NY
18 University of California—San Diego, CA
19 Johns Hopkins University, MD
20 Ohio State University—Columbus, OH
21 University of Virginia, VA
22 U. of California, Davis, CA
23 Georgia Institute of Technology, GA
24 Duke University, NC
25 Boston University, MA

For the full list of Universities, go here.

The Top Twenty-five Colleges are listed here.

1 Wellesley College, MA
2 Williams College, MA
3 Colorado College, CO
4 Oberlin College, OH
5 Amherst College, MA
6 Pomona College, CA
7 Middlebury College, VT
8 Union College, NY
9 Eugene Lang College, NY
10 University of Richmond, VA
11 Vassar College, NY
12 Bowdoin College, ME
13 Bryn Mawr College, PA
14 Connecticut College, CT
15 Bucknell University, PA
16 Wheaton College IL
17 Hamilton College, NY
18 Barnard College, NY
19 Dickinson College, PA
20 United States Naval Academy, MD
21 Washington & Lee University, VA
22 Colgate University, NY
23 Carleton College, MN
24 Bates College, ME
25 Willamette University, OR

For the full list of Colleges, go here.

The Top 200 Colleges and Universities were also ranked by Media Momentum, defined as largest change in Media Buzz from the end of 2008, and the largest change in media citations in the previous 90 days. The analysis was completed on November 1, 2009

GLM used its proprietary Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) software for the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Analysis. GLM used the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s classifications as the basis to distinguish between Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges. The schools were ranked in late October, with the last day of 2008 as the base, with two interim snapshots in 2009.

The Global Language Monitor also provides the TrendTopper Reputation Management Service that helps institutions differentiate themselves among their competitors.  TTRMS does not influence the rankings in any way.  For more information, go to www.TrendTopper.com or call 925.367.7557.

More Rankings

For the April, 2009 University Rankings, click here.

For the April, 2009 University Momentum Rankings, click here.

For the April, 2009 College Rankings, click here.

For the April, 2009 College Momentum Rankings, click here.

For the September, 2008 College and University Rankings, click here.

For TrendTopper MediaBuzz College Reputation Management Services, click here.

For TrendTopper MediaBuzz Branding Services, click here.

Harvard narrowly tops Columbia; Chicago, Michigan and Stanford follow

Wisconsin, Cornell, Princeton, Yale, and Cal in Top Ten

Colorado tops Williams; Amherst, Wellesley and Oberlin follow

Middlebury, Richmond, Union, Vassar, and Bard in Top Ten

Austin, Texas, USA. April 9, 2009.   In an exclusive TrendTopper MediaBuzz™ analysis of the nation’s colleges and universities, the Global Language Monitor has ranked the nation’s Top 100 colleges and universities according their appearance in the global print and electronic media, as well as on the Internet and throughout the Blogosphere. Social Media were also included.  The Top 100 Colleges and Universities were also ranked by Media Momentum, defined as largest change in Media Buzz from the end of 2008.

Read the story in the Harvard Crimson

In the University category, Harvard narrowly topped Columbia by a margin of 1.03%; Chicago moved into the No. 3 spot with Michigan and Stanford following.  Wisconsin moved up to No. 6, while Cornell moved up three spots to No. 7, with Princeton, Yale, and the University of California, Berkeley rounding out the Top Ten. Taken as a whole, the University of California system would have outdistanced Harvard for the Top Spot by a wide margin.

Read the story from the University of Wisconsin

In the Liberal Arts College category, Colorado College and Williams repeated as No. 1 and 2 with Amherst, Wellesley and Oberlin all moving up.  Middlebury, Richmond, Union (moving up five spots), Vassar, and Bard (moving up six spots) completed the Top Ten.

In the Media Momentum category for universities: CalTech, Emory and Boston College topped the list with George Tech, Tufts, USC, Rice, Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and Brandeis rounding out the Top Ten.

In the Media Momentum category for colleges: Bard College debuted at No. 1 followed by Colorado, Harvey Mudd, Wesleyan, St Olaf College, Grinnell, Holy Cross, Gettysburg, Claremont McKenna College, and St Lawrence.

Go to http://www.languagemonitor.com/college-rankings for the complete Top 100 rankings.

“In a year of financial, intellectual, and political ferment one constant has been the primacy of college brands,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst at GLM. “However, they are being scrutinized as seldom before with the differentiators between and among differing schools coming to the forefront.”

GLM used its proprietary Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) software for the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Analysis. GLM used the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s classifications to distinguish between Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges. The schools were ranked in early April, with the last day of 2008 as the base, with two interim snapshots.

Background

In September, 2008 in an exclusive TrendTopper MediaBuzz analysis of the nation’s colleges and universities, the Global Language Monitor ranked the nation’s colleges and universities  according their appearance on the Internet, throughout the Blogosphere, as well in the global print and electronic media.  The analysis included social media.

In the University category, Harvard nipped Columbia for top spot with Michigan, the University of California, Berkeley and Stanford following.  Rounding out the top ten were: the University of Chicago, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Yale, Princeton and Cornell. For the complete 2008 University Rankings, click here.

In the Liberal Arts College category, Colorado College upset Williams for the Top Spot, while Richmond, Middlebury and  Wellesley followed.  This is the first time, in any national ranking that a Liberal Arts College from the West ranked in the Top Spot. Rounding out the Top Ten were: Bucknell, Amherst, Oberlin, Vassar, and Pomona College. For the complete 2008 College Rankings, click here.

The idea behind the TrendTopper MediaBuzz rankings was a simple one.  ”There are only three types of intellectual property in the US, and one of them is the trademark (or brand) which are intended to represent all the perceived attributes of a service – and institutions of higher education are no different,” said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst at GLM.  “Prospective students, alumni, employers, and the world at large believe that students who are graduated from such institutions will carry on the all the hallmarks of that particular school.  Our TrendTopper analysis is a way of seeing the schools through the eyes of the world at large.”

The schools were also ranked according to ‘media momentum’ defined as having the largest change in media citations over the last year.

GLM used its proprietary Predictive Quantities Indicator (PQI) software for the TrendTopper Media Buzz Analysis. GLM used the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching’s classifications to distinguish between Universities and Liberal Arts Colleges.

GLM created the TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings to remove all bias that we saw as inherent in each of the other published rankings, be they peer assessments, the opinion of high school guidance counselors, the ratio of endowment to number of students, number of left-leaning professors, and all the rest.

We found it highly interest that many institutions used our rankings as a validation of their recent reputation management decisions:

• Harvard University: “Rankings highlight correlation between university prestige and media coverage … Indeed, the study seems to validate the Harvard Kennedy School’s recent decision to rebrand itself. Known as the Kennedy School of Government until last spring, the public policy and administration changed its shorthand so that it includes the word “Harvard”.

• Boston College: “University Spokesman Jack Dunn said, “Boston College’s ranking in this study serves as an affirmation of what we have long believed. Academic research and accomplishments along with media citations and this recent ranking are all affirmations of the growing steam of this university.” The major factors that contributed to BC’s high ranking were a well-published academic community, a strong public relations office, and a successful sports program in recent years.

• Vanderbilt University: “… when prospective students, faculty, friends and neighbors hear ‘Vanderbilt’ they associate it with excellent academic programs, innovative research, world class health care, the best students, a gorgeous campus, a dynamic hometown, rockin’ athletics and more. And, by one measure at least, we’re succeeding.”

• Chronicle of Higher Education: “[GLM’s TrendTopper analysis] is at least one measure of wealth, success and prestige,” Hoover said. “Even on campuses where presidents do not put too much stock into rankings themselves, it is something they must think about” because alums and top students pay attention to them. – Eric Hoover, marketing strategies, Chronicle of Higher Education, quoted in Harvard Crimson.

For more information, call 1.925.367.7557 or email pjjp@post.harvard.edu.

Learn more about GLM’s College Reputation Management Services

The TrendTopper MediaBuzz ranking are powered by the Global Language Monitor’s Predictive Quantities Indicator, a proprietary algorithm.  To learn more about the PQI, click here.

GLM’s College Reputation Management Services are part of our  TrendTopper Branding Services.  To learn more, click here.

Learn about our TrendTopper College Ranking and Branding Services

The Medal Round

Final GLM TrendTopper MediaBuzz Rankings: 

Olympic Global Sponsors: GLM TrendTopper Medal Round

Lenovo Takes the Gold Pulling Away,

J&J Finishes Strong Edging McDonald’s,

Coca-Cola Leaps Over Rivals

Austin, Texas, USA.   August 29, 2008.   The final week of the GLM TrendTopper™ analysis of the performance of the Global Sponsors at the Beijing Olympics, Lenovo (OTC: LNVGY) takes the Gold pulling away from the pack, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:  JNJ) finishes strong edging McDonald’s (NYSE:  MCD) for the Silver, while Coca-Cola (NYSE: K), in a bold move leaps five spots to No. 4.

On the downside, Samsung (OTC: SSNFL) and Kodak (NYSE: K) each fell three spots to No. 6 and 7 respectively.

Over the last two weeks Lenovo has completed its remarkable climb from No. 10 to the Top Spot. The analysis was performed by the Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com), the internet and media tracking agency.  

According to Paul JJ Payack, President, “In medal round of our competition, Lenovo performed a Phelpsian move pulling away from the crowd.  In fact its media awareness grew over 2100% since our baseline ‘snapshot’ on the last day of 2007.  The strength of the Johnson & Johnson brand was also remarkable at No. 2. McDonald’s brand equity was leveraged in clever and interesting ways, especially with their spectacular kick-off event. And, once again, Coca-Cola proved itself in the distance events, placing at or near the top for another Olympiad.”

When the ‘ambush marketers’ are are included with the Global Sponsors, the DreamWorks Animation studio, makers of “Kung Fu Panda”, rose to an unprecedented No. 5, while Nike (NYSE: NKE) just did it and finished at No.9.  Pepsi (NYSE: PEP), which owns the Gatorade brand, was up slightly, while American Express (NYSE:  AMX) fell five spots.

The Global Sponsors for the Beijing Games are:  General Electric (NBC Universal), Coca-Cola, Kodak, Samsung, Lenovo, McDonalds, Omega, Visa, Johnson & Johnson, Panasonic, Manulife and Atos Origin.  The ambush marketers being tracked include American Express, Nike, DreamWorks and their hit movie “Kung Fu Panda”, and Pepsi, which owns the Gatorade brand.

GLM uses proprietary algorithms to analyze how words and phrases (in this case brand names) are used globally in relationship to other words and phrases (in this case related to the Beijing Olympics) and how they perform against one another in order to determine rankings and other relevant outputs. 

Olympic MediaBuzz Medal Round:  ATHLETES

Phelps Takes Gold,

Newly-coined Media Star Lin Miaoke takes the Silver,

Nastia Liunkin Edges Shawn Johnson for Bronze

Yang Peiyi and Cheng Fei Finish Strong, Yao Ming slips.

Austin, Texas, USA.   August 28, 2008.   In the medal round of the TrendTopper MediaBuzz^TM analysis of the Beijing Olympics, GLM measured how the global media buzz surrounding key athletes changed during the course of the Games.  In the MediaBuzz Medal Round, Michael Phelps took the gold as he pulled away from the pack.  The silver belongs to Lin Miaoke, the newly-coined media star.  And in a mild surprise, Nastia Liunkin bolted from No. 11 to No. 3 edging out Shawn Johnson for the bronze. 

Both Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell, the Jamaican sprinters, fared poorly evidencing little staying power, while Guo Jing Jing, apparently having had her moment in the sun, faded. 

And, in yet another compelling twist, Lin Miaoke’s counterpart, Yang Peiyi, the little girl who did, indeed, sing the song the whole world sings moved up ten spots to No. 5.  The analysis was performed by the Global Language Monitor (GLM), the internet and media tracking agency.

Paul JJ Payack, GLM’s President and Chief Word Analyst, said “The media story for the Beijing Olympics was much larger than Michael Phelps.  The plots and subplots, twists and entanglements were compelling at almost every level – from the Opening ceremony to the very end.  Each of these was well reflected in the TrendTopper MediaBuzz analysis.”  

The ranking follows and includes rank, name, last week’s rank, and change. 

(For more information and other metrics, call 1.925.367.7557.)

Olympian Media Buzz:  The Athletes Ranked, Midway Point

Bolts’ Phelpsian Surge; Guo Jing Jing as in Bling Bling; Shawn Johnson’s Golden Buzz; Cate Campbell Does Swimmingly.

Liu Xiang, Tyson Gay and Paula Radcliffe Plummet.

Austin, Texas, USA.   August 21, 2008.   In its latest TrendTopper^TM analysis of the Beijing Olympics, GLM measured how the media buzz surrounding key athletes has changed during the course of the Games.  As expected Michael Phelps remains a strong No.1 on the TrendTopper BuzzMeter. 

The surprise No. 2, however, belongs to Lin Miaoke, the little girl who didn’t sing the song the whole word sings at the Opening Ceremony.  Miaoke knocked NBA star Yao Ming down to No. 3. 

Lin Miaoke est devenue une célébrité internationale (PeoplesDaily en francais, 8.26.2008)

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt moved up five spots to No. 4.  Forty-one year-old Dara Torres moved up three spots to No. 5, American elite gynmast Shawn Johnson was up to No. 9 and 16-year-old Cate Campbell jumped eleven spots to No. 12. 

See Lip Syncher Gets Her 15 Minutes of Fame on Reuters

See The View from China: The Mirror’s Front Page Headline — Lin Miaoke defeats the “little giant“

On the downside, Tyson Gay, with a shocking loss in semi-final of 100M, Liu Xiang, China’s first track gold medalist back in Athens, and the UK’s Paula Radcliffe saw their rankings plummet six, eleven and sixteen spots respectively.  The analysis was performed by the Global Language Monitor (www.LanguageMonitor.com), the internet and media tracking agency. 

Paul JJ Payack, GLM’s President and Chief Word Analyst, said “Michael Phelps has joined the athletic Pantheon of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Pele and Ali, Usain Bolt (No. 4) may be well on the way to becoming the next Michael Phelps, and if lip-syncer Lin Miaoke (No. 2) and Yang Peiyi  (No. 15), her singing counterpart, were in the US, they’d be making the rounds of the morning talk shows.”     

See Analysis by Brent Hunsberger of the Oregonian

 See Analysis by Howard Bloom of Sports Business News