Business Unit News
Wall Street Journal Reveals Words of the Year for 2010
From "Shellacking" to "Eyjafjallajokull" to "Vuvuzela," an Analysis of Journal Coverage
NEW YORK, Dec. 29, 2010 – The Wall Street Journal
reported an analysis of the news it published in 2010 reveals an array
of words and terms that starred in this year's coverage – many of which
rarely appeared in 2009, if at all.
Covering topics ranging from volcanoes and other disasters to sports and
financial events, fashion trends and automobile recalls, the "Words of
the Year"
interactive feature includes photos and coverage, maps,
info-graphics, timelines and more to help showcase the words that told
the stories of 2010.
The Wall Street Journal "Words of the Year" highlights include:
- "Greece" appeared 1,406 times in 2010 – compared to 213 in 2009;
- "Tea Party" appeared 549 times this year, up from 46 last year;
- Also spiking in appearances over 2009 include "Wikileaks," rising from just one appearance last year to 167 this year; "sudden acceleration" from Toyotas resulting in a jump of eight to 127 appearances; and new airport security measures helping "pat down" grow from two to 19 appearances;
- The World Cup in South Africa brought "vuvuzela" up to 18 appearances from two last year, while President Obama's post-midterm election reference to "shellacking" resulted in that word's appearance 19 times versus four in 2009;
- Words that appeared this year after a hiatus in 2009 include the "flash crash," a volcano named "Eyjafjallajokull," "check in" from Foursquare, and Deepwater Horizon's "blowout preventer;"
- The April debut of the iPad resulted in its appearance more than 550 times.
To view the full list and "Words of the Year" interactive
feature, please
click here.
Methodology
Editors scoured a list of every word that appeared in The
Wall Street Journal since Jan. 1, 2010, using technology
from Factiva, a research product owned by Dow Jones & Company.
The list was stripped of common terms such as "the" and ordered
by frequency, noting how many times each word appeared in the
newspaper.
Editors then narrowed the list to 30, favoring words that
symbolized news or cultural developments of note in 2010.
Factiva then calculated article counts for 2010 and 2009. The
winning words were identified when the calculations revealed a
leap in usage from year to year.
About The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal is the world's leading business
publication with more than two million subscribers and is the
largest U.S. newspaper by total paid circulation. The Wall
Street Journal franchise, with a global print audience of
3.5 million, comprises The Wall Street Journal, The
Wall Street Journal Asia and The Wall Street Journal Europe. The
Wall Street Journal Online at WSJ.com, the leading provider of
business and financial news and analysis on the Web with more
than one million subscribers and 21 million visitors per month.
WSJ.com is the flagship site of The Wall Street Journal Digital
Network, which also includes MarketWatch.com, Barrons.com,
AllThingsD.com and SmartMoney.com. The Journal holds 33
Pulitzer Prizes for outstanding journalism, and, in 2010, was
ranked No. 1 in BtoB's Media Power 50 for the 11th consecutive
year.
Contact:
Howard Hoffman
(609) 520-4765
Howard.Hoffman@dowjones.com