According to the head of the organization, Paul J. Payack, the word ‘tsunami,’ which came from Japanese, was little used until the natural disaster that occurred in December 2004 in Southeast Asia.
In third place in usage was the word ‘Pope,’ since in spring 2005 the death of the pontiff was discussed all over the world. Next come ‘Chinglish’ (Chinese version of English), ‘H5N1’ (bird flu virus), and ‘racaille,’ a French word meaning scoundrel. It was used by the French authorities to designate the rioters who raged in the neighborhoods of Paris in autumn 2005.
In seventh and eighth places, respectively, are the words ‘Katrina’ and ‘wiki.’ The latter came from the Hawaiian language and means ‘quick.’ Now it is used by Internet users as a term meaning ‘cooperation,’ ‘joint work on something,’ such as Wikipedia - an Internet encyclopedia compiled by many authors.
Ninth on the list is ‘SMS,’ and tenth in popularity is the term ‘insurgent,’ as it is a politically neutral term describing an enemy combatant.
Global Language Monitor named ‘out of the mainstream’ (‘Out of the Mainstream’) as the phrase of the year, which is used to characterize the ideological platform of a political opponent. Second place went to the phrase ‘bird flu,’ and third to ‘haves and have-nots,’ meaning the geopolitical divide between the developed North and the underdeveloped South.
According to Payack, the word ‘refugee’ was used five times more often than other words to describe those who were forced to leave New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approached. The use of this word sparked heated debate on issues of race and political correctness.
Prominent American human rights activist Jesse Jackson said that using this term in relation to New Orleans blacks, left homeless by the hurricane, is ‘inaccurate, dishonest, and racist,’ and stressed that those who use the word do not regard the victims as Americans.
President Bush proposed using the term ‘displaced citizens,’ since the people in question are Americans. After that, a number of newspapers stopped using the word ‘refugee,’ while others said they would use the word with caution.