The New Oxford American Dictionary has selected "unfriend" as its Word of the Year. Many of my writer friends are bemoaning this most recent example of turning a perfectly respectable noun into a pretentious, jargony verb. (Other offenders: message, impact, leverage, party(!)... )

I have no problem with it. To me, language is about communication and "unfriend" is certainly clear in its meaning. I also like the succinctness of it. I mean, which of these sentences better conveys the person's annoyance?

• His posts were driving me crazy, so I removed him from my list of friends... OR
• His posts were driving me crazy, so I unfriended him.

To me, it's the second one—no contest.

Language constantly evolves to reflect the times we live in and new technology is often a driving factor. A few years ago, there wouldn't have been the need for a word like "unfriend." Now there is. (Just like thirty years ago, the only thing "mouse" referred to was a little gray animal.)

I might feel differently if the entire language was being bastardized (another verbed noun, by the way), like in that Twilight Zone episode where the guy wakes up and suddenly all the words have changed their meaning. But as long as it's just a few here and there, I think we can all chill.

To see what other words were in consideration or to cast a yay/nay vote for this one, check out this article on the MSNBC website. There are lots more out there, of course.

Just Google it.

Posted in Facebook,My Two Cents,Social Media