Top 20 Words from Hollywood Impacting The English Language
Posted On Friday, June 22, 2007 at at Friday, June 22, 2007 by UnknownHigh Five!!! Its sexy time!’ from Borat! And ‘Hollywood Baby Names’ from the Celebrity Cultural Milieu, Named Top Words from Hollywood Impacting The English Language
The Global Language Monitor analyzes and catalogues the latest trends in word usage and word choices, and their impact on the various aspects of culture. The Top HollyWORDS are released in conjunction with the 79th Academy Awards ceremony that were broadcast from the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Top HollyWORDS for Impact Upon the English Language in 2006 with commentary follow.
1. “High Five!!!! It’s sexy time!” (Borat) – Borat’s wedge into doing or saying anything he pleases on his American Tour.
2. Suri, Shiloh Nouvel, and the rest of the Hollywood Babyland parade. (Hollywood Baby names) -- Opening an entire new world of possibilities to young parents, who are taking to the idea of ultimately, outré, names to inflict upon, err, bestow upon their children.
3. Pursuit (Pursuit of Happyness) – Will Smith's stunning epiphany from the words penned by Thomas Jefferson some 230 years ago.
4. Nazi bullets (Little Miss Sunshine) -- "I still got Nazi bullets in my ass." Grandpa's excuse to do or say anything he pleases.
5. Non Serviam (The Departed) – “I will not serve” from James Joyce. Franks Costello’s pledge as he refuses to be a product of his environment. He wants his “environment to be a product of me”.
6. A reluctant cannibal (Last King of Scotland) -- Forest Whittaker's portrayal of an illiterate, brutal African dictator, who may or may not enjoy feasting upon his victim.
7. A Moral Issue (An Inconvenient Truth) -- … and not a political issue. Al Gore's chilling documentary about Global Warming and it ultimate impact upon the human environment.
8. "Will someone please save these people from themselves!” (The Queen) -- Tony Blair's observations of The Royals as he attempts to heal the rift between The Queen and her subjects.
9. "Help! Ayúdenme! HELP!" (BABEL) Crying for help in a land apparently with out ears.
10. "The details of your incompetence do not interest me." (Devil Wears Prada) – Meryl Streep with yet another nurturing remark to those who surround (and serve) her.
11. Classic Figures (Dreamgirls) –For more than 200,000 years of human history these were the celebrated dimensions of women. What was the tipping point? Twiggy in the 60s?
12. Labyrinth (Pan's Labyrinth) -- Before 'quagmire's' there were 'labyrinths'. In the 21st Century 'labyrinth' is perhaps the better word.
13. Film Noir (Black Dahlia) -- Plenty of 'noir' but not much 'film' in the Black Dahlia. Perhaps Film Noir is better suited to a less cynical age.
14. Arrgh! (Pirate of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest) -- Spreading ever more deeply into popular culture.
15. "Rotemorizing" (Akeelah and the Bee) -- The technique of blindly memorizing spelling words.
16. “Make us disappear!” (The Illusionist) – Sophie’s request to a young Eisenheim (Ed Norton).
17. maya yucateco (Apocolypto) -- Mel's Gibson's choice of language for his film depicting a collapsing civilization. (Actually still spoken from some 6 million Maya descendants in the Yucatan.)
18. Dame (Notes on a Scandal) -- What more can be said: Dame Judi Dench, Indeed.
19. Hero (Flags of our Fathers) – Some thing the ‘heroes’ of Iwo Jima never asked to be, much like their 9/11 grandsons.
20. Chica chica, boom boom (Happy Feet) -- That's just one sign that attack of spontaneous happy feet dancing is about to begin.
Top Words for 2006 and 2005
In 2006,‘Brokeback’ from multi-Oscar nominated film 'Brokeback Mountain' was named the Top HollyWORD in the Global Language Monitor's annual survey of words from Hollywood that profoundly influenced the English Language. In 2005, 'Pinot' from the movie Sideways, was named the Top HollyWORD.
