Oxford Word Of The Year: Locavore
It’s that time of the year again. It is finally starting to get cold (if you are worried about the global warming maybe you should become carbon-neutral) and the New Oxford American Dictionary is preparing for the holidays by making its biggest announcement of the year. The 2007 Word of the Year is (drum-roll please) locavore.
The past year saw the popularization of a trend in using locally grown ingredients, taking advantage of seasonally available foodstuffs that can be bought and prepared without the need for extra preservatives.
The “locavore” movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even to grow or pick their own food, arguing that fresh, local products are more nutritious and taste better. Locavores also shun supermarket offerings as an environmentally friendly measure, since shipping food over long distances often requires more fuel for transportation.
“The word ‘locavore’ shows how food-lovers can enjoy what they eat while still appreciating the impact they have on the environment,” said Ben Zimmer, editor for American dictionaries at Oxford University Press. “It’s significant in that it brings together eating and ecology in a new way.”
“Locavore” was coined two years ago by a group of four women in San Francisco who proposed that local residents should try to eat only food grown or produced within a 100-mile radius. Other regional movements have emerged since then, though some groups refer to themselves as “localvores” rather than “locavores.” However it’s spelled, it’s a word to watch.
Runners-up for the 2007 Word of the Year include:
aging in place: the process of growing older while living in one’s own residence, instead of having to move to a new home or community
bacn: email notifications, such as news alerts and social networking updates, that are considered more desirable than unwanted “spam” (coined at PodCamp Pittsburgh in Aug. 2007 and popularized in the blogging community)
cloudware: online applications, such as webmail, powered by massive data storage facilities, also called “cloud servers”
colony collapse disorder: a still-unexplained phenomenon resulting in the widespread disappearance of honeybees from beehives, first observed in late 2006
cougar: an older woman who romantically pursues younger men
MRAP vehicle: Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle, designed to protect troops from improvised explosive devices (IEDs)
mumblecore: an independent film movement featuring low-budget production, non-professional actors, and largely improvised dialogue
previvor: a person who has not been diagnosed with a form of cancer but has survived a genetic predisposition for cancer
social graph: the network of one’s friends and connections on social websites such as Facebook and Myspace
tase (or taze): to stun with a Taser (popularized by a Sep. 2007 incident in which a University of Florida student was filmed being stunned by a Taser at a public forum)
upcycling: the transformation of waste materials into something more useful or valuable
Disagree with the word of the year? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.
[...] to your list of good food related information intake. I’m late to the food game, after all, Locavore was 2008’s word of the year. / My first thought when I came across this Monsanto [...]
[...] since supermarkets that import their food use more fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.The New Oxford American Dictionary chose locavore as its word of the year 2007. Some locavores draw inspiration from the 100-Mile Diet or from advocates of local eating like [...]
[...] what goes in the dictionary, stays in the dictionary. In 2008 the word Tweet lost to the word Locavore , so you’d think maybe Retweet would have garnered some enthusiasm this year as Twitter was [...]
[...] nu va place, puteti sa incercati varianta Oxford, via San Francisco, a fatal combo : locavore. Ca sa rezum parerea despre aceste doua new entries, as putea sa [...]
[...] 2007, it was locavore. In 2008, Hypermilling. Yesterday, the New Oxford American Dictionary announced that [...]
[...] 2007 was a bit of a misfire for Oxford; although it was a big year for Apple and Facebook, their tech nominations were red herrings like bacn, an abortive attempt to brand “desired spam,” and cloudware, which at the time was (if you’ll forgive the expression) too hazy a concept to really get much traction among casual users. Locavore hasn’t gained much ground in the popularity contest, probably because people who use it tend to be selling it. It’s still a good app, though. Unfriend would have been a real win here, since the new politics of online relationships were being written by users at large. Cloud has remained but I think perhaps the term which may best have represented 2007 was iTouch. This common misnomer evokes both the rapid expansion of personal media devices and widespread mystification at its terminology and function. Unfortunately, those who use the word are by definition nearly incapable of propagating it as a meme. [...]
[...] word of the year for 2007 was locavore, someone who eats food grown in their region, probably by people who live somewhere [...]
[...] with soaring gas prices and instability in terms of oil imports. In 2007 the word of the year was locovore. This one has experienced immense popularity, and is used to describe the efforts to use locally [...]
[...] were incredibly fresh. You could almost taste the farm – which is a lot better than it sounds. Locavores who insist that food tastes more like itself when it’s in season and local — beets taste [...]
[...] not the only ones with local food on the brain. The New Oxford American Dictionary has declared locavore the 2007 Word of the Year. "The 'locavore' movement encourages consumers to buy from farmers’ markets or even [...]
[...] And, until very recently, on my back deck was the remains of a Topsy-Turvy tomato planter, thirty pounds of soil and dead tomato plants, splitting its seams. But! I am determined to keep trying! One of the wonderful things about living in Louisiana is our incredibly long growing season and Dan Gill, the Louisiana gardening guru, wrote an indispensable book called Month-By-Month Gardening in Louisiana. You should buy the book. But, here’s an idea of what edible things can be planted in January (if and when this insane freeze thaws). Go locavores! [...]
[...] the overused term “locavore” to describe cultish farmers’ market junkies (it was the word of the year for 2007 in the Oxford American Dictionary). “Sustainable” and “green” are so [...]
[...] heard about it – but have you gone local? With new words popping up in our vocabulary like “locavore” there’s clearly a mounting a trend towards supporting local businesses, especially farmers [...]
what does these two words means( probusiness..postconflict)
I’ve never heard it. I suppose that’s a good thing, because it’s a particularly ugly and ignorant coinage.
[...] eat local, farmers market, Lacavore, local, local food, trends By definition, I am not a locavore, New Oxford American Dictionary’s 2007 word of the year. Depending on the source, a ‘locavore,’ (noun, pronounced [...]
Our conventional dinner plate guzzles gas throughout its 1500 mile journey, after being treated with pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
[...] locavore movement began in Italy as a reaction to the attempted McDonaldization of its eateries. It quickly [...]
[...] – Locavore. The word of the year. [OUP Blog] [...]
[...] – Locavore. The word of the year. Seriously. [OUP Blog] [...]
[...] was way back in 2007 that the word locavore was named as the New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year. So, now in 2010, a little late to [...]
[...] that the technology became widely spread and adopted by the public at large. Similarly, as a word, locavore (2007) didn’t quite catch on but the concept has begun to take root, as Michelle Obama plants [...]
[...] Oxford University Press Planet Green [...]
[...] In other Word of the Year news, the New Oxford American Dictionary has chosen locavore, a person who advocates “using locally grown ingredients” for meals (runners-up). [...]
[...] of his band will be doing it for the next week, too.If that’s not enough inspiration, the top locavore will win a Live Nation Ultimate Access [...]
[...] come and go but the locavore movement has been steadily growing over the last couple of years. In 2007, it was the Oxford dictionary word of the year but what does it really mean? Locavores, (aka localvores) take on the challenge to eat locally [...]
[...] and bootylicious anytime soon, but could refudiate join the ranks of unfriend, hypermiling, and locavore as the 2010 Oxford Word of the [...]
Locavore is a combination of ‘local’ and ‘per favore.’
My local deli displays a sign that says: “Welcome Locavores.” It is a conversation starter, for many customers has no idea of its meaning.
[...] 2nd, 2007 I just learned that the OED‘s word of the year has been announced, and it’s Locavore. Hooray. If recent history has taught us anything, controlling the terminology is a prerequisite [...]
[...] merely stockpile food in a warehouse, Tucson’s Community Food Bank is embracing the “locavore” movement as a means of fighting a sustainable war against hunger. They run the Marana [...]
[...] popularity, the word “locavore” nabbed the title of 2007 Word of the Year from the New Oxford American Dictionary, and Food and Wine magazine offers tips to befuddled cooks on “How to Eat Like a [...]
[...] terms from Oxford: 2008′s “hypermiling,” 2007′s equally crunchy, dull “locavore,” and 2006′s snoozy “carbon neutral.” “Unfriend,” in contrast, is [...]
[...] In other Word of the Year news, the New Oxford American Dictionary has chosen locavore, a person who advocates “using locally grown ingredients” for meals (runners-up). [...]
ha, never knew this word existed
[...] the local-food movement has become. I pitched the idea for this book in 2007, the same year that “locavore” was named the New Oxford American Dictionary’s Word of the Year. My, how times have [...]
[...] us in the middle of a vibrant environmental movement. We joined with others in celebrating the year of the locavore, food not lawns, walking school buses, backyard chickens and the virtues of reusing and recycling. [...]
Locavore is so 2007. The cool word now is “winning.”
This list is kinda funny. It’s interesting to see which words have caught on and which ones I’ve never heard of. Locavore, though, is something I’m definitely interested in. Better food quality, less gas used for transport, and more money staying in the community.
This list is kinda funny. It’s interesting to see which words have caught on and which ones I’ve never heard of. Locavore, though, is something I’m definitely interested in. Better food quality, less gas used for transport, and more money staying in the community. So true Bethany
[...] organic section. Its popularity earned it an award when the word ‘locavore’ won the 2007 Word of the Year with the New Oxford American Dictionary. There’s even an app to help locavores identify places to [...]
[...] word locavore was the New Oxford American English Dictionary’s word of the year in 2007 (after being coined two years prior). Now, just a few years later, Girl Scouts can earn a [...]
[...] within a 100-mile radius to minimise the impact on the environment caused by the transport of food (more on what locavore means here). The locavore movement has since became a trend across the states and inspired Paul (a web [...]
[...] great feat for Radish’s diners—all skinny, fit-looking, Moscot-bespectacled professionals and locavores in their 30s and 40s, more Fashion Avenue than Wall [...]
[...] one or the other, or neither), or vegan? Should you refrain from red meat, or perhaps go locavore? Of course the answers aren’t always clear-cut, but there is a tremendous amount of information [...]
[...] pick an excerpt from Epidemiologic Principles and Food Safety the week after we announced that Locavore is the “word of the year” but I composed this post long before locavore mania began. [...]
[...] for you. Become a locavore. What is a locavore, you might ask? Why, it’s only the Oxford University Press Word of 2007! It’s a person who eats food only grown within a 100-mile radius of his or her home. If you [...]
[...] of Country Music Television (or perhaps TLC), has crowned their Miss America: this year’s Word of the Year is locavore. Or as mollusque would have it, [...]