"UNFRIEND ME, you heavy-handed Cad ...!!"

UNFRIEND: Does that include Murdering your Roommate?
Retrieved by Pat Darnell and Amanda Knox

Oxford Word of the Year 2009: Unfriend
Filed in A-Editor's Picks , A-Featured , Current Events , Dictionaries , Lexicography , Reference on November 16, 2009

Without further ado, the 2009 Word of the Year is: unfriend.

unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

*[Note: Facebook sent out a flyer that showed up in my Dec. 1, '09 email inbox that they have reached a 350 million subscribers level of operations]*

As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.”

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program.

“In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year.

Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!)."

" ... Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”

Wondering what other new words were considered for the New Oxford American Dictionary 2009 Word of the Year? Check out the list at OUPblog HERE.

"I'm sorry 'Tiger, I have to unfriend you, but you know how they talk?" ...
"That's okay Mr President, I don't mind. You don't even have to shake my hand right now."