Janet CollinsTop Ten Hollywords of 2008
March 2nd 2009 04:37
“Jai Ho!” and “Slumdog” top the list of words from Hollywood that most influenced the English language in 2008. This was the sixth annual survey of Hollywords by the Global Language Monitor, released on Thursday.
Each year, the list is released following and in conjunction with the Academy Awards ceremony. Using a predictive quantities indicator, The Global Language Monitor analyses and catalogues the frequency of words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the Blogosphere and various databases.
Four major factors for the impact of the words are long-term trends, short-term changes, momentum and velocity. This year, both of the top two Hollywords came from the movie “Slumdog Millionaire”, the first time two words from the same movie ranked in the top ten.
Closely behind were ‘Hmong’ fromGran Torino in third place, followed by ‘Nuke the Fridge’ from Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull and ‘Twinkie defense’ (following events in Milk).
Previous years’ top Hollywords (or phrases) were “Call it, Friendo,” from “No Country for Old Men” (2007), “High Five!!! It’s sexy time!" from “Borat!” (2006) and “Brokeback” from “Brokeback Mountain” (2005).
Here is the complete list of the Top 10 Hollywords of 2008 and commentary from The Global Language Monitor:
- 1. Jai Ho! (Slumdog Millionaire) – Literally ‘Let there be Victory’ in Hindi.
- 2. Slumdog (Slumdog Millionaire) – Definitely a politically incorrect term for young slum-dwellers in Bombay (Mumbai).
- 3. Nuke the Fridge (Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull) – Indiana Jones surviving a nuclear blast in a lead-lined fridge is viewed as proof that the franchise has run its course (similar to Fonzi’s Jump the Shark episode on Happy Days).
- 4. Hmong (Gran Torino) – The name of the mountain-dwelling peoples of Laos who were US Allies in the Indochinese Wars of the 1960-70s. Pronounced with a silent ‘h’: mong.
- 5. Twinkie Defense (Milk) – The apocryphal outcome of the trial 1979 trial of Dan White, the former San Francisco Supervisor who killed both Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone. The term was never actually used in the trial but was picked up in the media as a stand-in for ‘diminished capacity’.
- 6. Djembe (The Visitor) – West African percussion instrument that Tarek teaches Walter.
- 7. There are no coincidences (Kung Fu Panda) – Oogway’s solemn pronouncement to Master Shifu
- 8. What doesn’t kill you makes you … stranger (The Dark Knight) – The Joker’s twist on the famous Nietzsche epigram.
- 9. Posthumous (The Wrestler) – Yes, that really was Mickey Rourke as a Best Actor nominee, well after he had been pronounced dead many a time.
- 10. Katrina (Benjamin Button) – The ominous and pervasive threat of Katrina framing the movie demonstrates the depth to which the hurricane has penetrated the American subconscious.
Source: The Global Language Monitor
Image Credit: The Global Language Minitor
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Comment by The Rusty Can
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Comment by Chris Champion
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Comment by Janet Collins
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Yes, as meaningless as the list is really, it does exist. Thanks so much for the nice comment.
Comment by Janet Collins
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May victory be ours.
Comment by Janet Collins
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Good thought. Maybe there could be a Bollyword list too!
Comment by Morgan Bell
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and i remember a bit of "Life Is Like A Box of Chocolates" going on after Forest Gump
i also remember The Gangs of New York being parodied by a local radio station as a serial/play called The Gangs of Albury Woodonga
oh and the Sixth Sense "I See Dead People" is still floating around . . . and the term "Erin Brokovich" for crusaders against corporate pollution
Comment by Janet Collins
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They are some blasts from the past! Good list. It is remarkable how the lines in movies just move into our everyday conversation.
Good choices!