The Words of the Century
Two members of the American Dialect Society, David K. Barnhart and Allan A. Metcalf, have selected a word or phrase per year for the 20th Century, matching the word with the year when it came into its own. The list appears in their book "America in So Many Words" (Houghton Mifflin, 1997 & 1999)1900: phony
1901: grass roots
1902: goo|
1903: highbrow
1904: cut the mustard
1905: jellybean
1906: muckraker/teddy bear
1907: melting pot
1908: asleep at the switch
1909: pork barrel
1910: barbershop
1911: blues
1912: movies
1913: jazz
1914: backpack
1915: flapper
1916: IQ
1917: GI
1918: D Day
1919: T shirt
1920: normalcy
1921: media
1922: cold turkey
1923: hijack
1924: brainstorm
1925: motel
1926: Bible Belt
1927: macho
1928: athlete's foot
1929: jalopy
1930: bulldozer
1931: Skid Row
1932: hopefully
1933: supermarket
1934: whistlestop
1935: boondoggle
1936: streamline
1937: groovy
1938: teenager
1939: juke box
1940: jeep
1941: multicultural
1942: gizmo
1943: acronym
1944: snafu
1945: showbiz
1946: Iron Curtain/Cold War
1947: babysit
1948: cybernetics
1949: cool
1950: DJ
1951: rock and roll
1952: Ms.
1953: UFO
1954: hotline
1956: brinkmanship
1957: role model
1958: Murphy's Law
1959: software
1960: sit-in
1961: biodegradable
1962: car pool
1963: duh
1964: swing voter
1965: affirmative action
1966: credibility gap
1967: ripoff
1968: aerobics
1969: sexism and ageism
1970: bottom line
1971: workaholic
1972: Watergate
1973: sound bite
1974: streak
1975: substance
1976: couch potato
1977: loony tunes
1978: geek
1979: stealth
1980: gridlock
1981: wannabe
1983: like
1983: greenmail
1984: yuppie
1985: rocket scientist
1986: dis
1987: codependency
1988: push the envelope
1989: virtual reality
1990: PC
1991: about
1992: Not!
1993: newbie
1994: go postal
1995: Newt/World Wide Web
1996: soccer mom
1997: Ebonics
1998: millennium bug
1999: Y2K