The Korean pop sensation who has taken the world by storm with his insane yet addictive horse-riding music dance step and a whopping million watcher hit on YouTube is yet about to achieve another milestone – he is about to receive an honor that will immortalize him in the English Language.
Psy, the Gangnam style hero is about to have his famous phrase coined in the British dictionary. The phrase “Gangnam Style” from Psy’s famous anthem has been selected to be included among the Collins Dictionary words of the year along with “fiscal cliff” and “romneyshambles.”
According to Ian Brookes, the consultant editor of the dictionary, the chosen words represented the story told by the year that was. Some of these words are important events which the year had seen while some others were pop culture movements that couldn’t be missed under any circumstances. Some of the words included events centering on American politics.
“Fiscal Cliff was derived from the camaraderie ensuing the deadline for the President of US, Barack Obama and the congress to chalk up the government economy and consequent spending. Romneyshambles on the other hand is an outcome of the Mitt Romney visit in July, which is gaffe-ridden to speak of the least, in which the controversial Olympics hosting were discussed. “47 percent” also found its way on the list since the leaked video of Romney speaking to the donors of how 47 percent of Americans were hell bent on voting for Obama, as their government dependency was capped off after losing the presidential candidacy. There were more than 7000 word submissions for the database online.
The selection procedure included selecting one word for each month of the year and was tested on the basis of its speaking frequency. This depended on where it was spoken and with what degree of use. The higher the longevity in public conversation made it more likely to be included among the selected words. However making it to the word of the year at the Collins online website does not make it a likely contender for an entry into the dictionary. Even with all of this in the picture, Gangnam Style has a pretty good chance of making it. According to Ian Brookes, this might be a passing fad, but the level of frequency by which this phrase is invading public conversations; it stands as a deserving candidate to be included in the dictionary.