'Unfriend' Selected as 'Word of the Year'
MUSIC, CAMEO, "WORD UP") NGUYEN: I was warned about this music. Perfect! "Word Up," by Cameo. Haven't heard of Cameo in a long time.</s>LUI: Yes, a long time. But it's the perfect song.</s>NGUYEN: It is, because we are talking words today. Every year, the New Oxford American Dictionary takes the -- the "word of the year." And the word has to have cultural significance and staying power.</s>LUI: And last year's one, you might remember this, "hypermiling." You know, trying to get the most gas -- the most -- the best economy...</s>NGUYEN: OK.</s>LUI: ...you can out of your car.</s>NGUYEN: Got you.</s>LUI: By doing things like taking out of drive.</s>NGUYEN: I don't ever say this. Have you ever said "hypermiling" in your life, besides just now?</s>LUI: I -- well, on air we've had to talk about hypermiling.</s>NGUYEN: Point taken.</s>LUI: But since then, no.</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>LUI: But it's sort of indicative, as you said, of where our culture's going, right?</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>LUI: And so, evidently, when we take a look at this year's winner, it's familiar to Facebookers out there.</s>NGUYEN: Uh huh.</s>LUI: All right? Some of them. And -- but not everybody knows it, and lots of people confused by the other contenders for "word of the year." Take a look at this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Sexting."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure. I've -- I've heard the word, but I couldn't define it.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Sexting"? I would think it's a form of texting.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Sexting." Yes, that's -- I've learned that's where people are taking pictures or putting kind of obscene terms in their -- in their text.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, we know what it means.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was pretty close. "The sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cell phone."</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Teabagger"?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea what that means.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Teabagger." I have no idea -- do you know what a "teabagger" is?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All I can think is, like, taking tea bags out of teacups.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Teabagger." I've heard the term, but I do not know what it means.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have a clue.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "A person who" -- oh -- "who protests President Obama's tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as 'tea-party protests.'</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come to think of it, yes, that makes sense.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Brown state."</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A state that's brown.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have no idea. A state that's brown.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "A U.S. state that does not have strict environmental regulations."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Tramp stamp."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think that is?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A "tramp stamp." Obviously, someone who's being a little trashy and it's probably, you know...</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Tramp stamp." I had never heard this term until the other day.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, I know what that is.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Tramp stamp."</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a tattoo right above your butt.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Tramp stamp."</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think that means? Anybody know?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tattoo on the lower back?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Definition is -- oh, "a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman."</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "A tattoo on" -- oh!</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do I win money?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But you get to continue talking to me if that's...</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it was $100 a question.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Unfriend." Somebody that's not a friend?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "Unfriend"?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think that means?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not cool. Like, not nice. Not friendly.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "To remove someone as a friend on a social- networking site, such as Facebook.</s>LUI: Oh, I'm surprised some of those kids didn't get it.</s>NGUYEN: What, the "unfriend"?</s>LUI: Yes.</s>NGUYEN: Oh, there's some other ones that I'm surprised that they didn't get.</s>LUI: Well, and sometimes you're glad they didn't get them.</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>LUI: So, "tramp stamp" and that others (ph).</s>NGUYEN: And some of those you just don't yell out loud.</s>LUI: No. No. Don't say out loud. You can think about it.</s>LUI: That last word, by the way, Betty, "unfriend." ...</s>NGUYEN: Uh huh.</s>LUI: ...that is, in fact, the "word of the year."</s>NGUYEN: Really?</s>LUI: So, I mean, I think we're going to use that in our vernacular a lot. Maybe not "hypermiling."</s>NGUYEN: So in that case, in -- in celebration, shall we go and unfriend everybody?</s>LUI: No. No, don't do that.</s>NGUYEN: I'm kidding. I'm kidding. We're all your friends, right?</s>LUI: Yes.</s>NGUYEN: All because of Facebook. Isn't that amazing?</s>LUI: It...</s>NGUYEN: Social media, the impact that it's had.</s>LUI: And that's really the point, right?</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>LUI: What it's meant to the way we network together nowadays, so -- there's been some debate about whether the proper word is "unfriend" or "defriend." And we go through that with a lot of works, I think, that we use. But an Oxford Dictionary spokesman saying that researchers found that "unfriend" was actually used more often.</s>NGUYEN: I am so glad we got that cleared up.</s>NGUYEN: Exactly.</s>LUI: Yes.</s>NGUYEN: I will not unfriend you, Richard.</s>LUI: No, not as of today, hopefully.</s>NGUYEN: Yes.</s>LUI: Maybe after.</s>NGUYEN: Well, you know, some in the Senate not feeling very friendly right now because they're working on a Saturday, something they don't usually do. What are they working to accomplish this weekend? Well, that is one of our top stories, and we're going to take a look at that in just three minutes.