In terms of designated words of the year, we had some stinkers in 2011.

Oxford dictionaries selected “squeezed middle,” a relevant British phrase, but one that is widely unknown in the United States.

Dictionary.com chose “tergiversate.” If the online resource wanted to be irrelevant, it sure succeeded with that pick.

Merriam-Webster went with “pragmatic,” because it was the most-searched word online. That’s a rather, yes, pragmatic pick.

The above selections dismayed PR Daily contributor Eileen Burmeister, who last month compared them to a real dud of a gift. “Like the Christmas sweatshirt that your Aunt Blanche cross-stitched candy canes across, just under the lace collar?”

If the other words of the year were Aunt Blanche’s handcrafted sweatshirt, then the American Dialect Society’s selection is the gift you’d been asking for since autumn and fully expected to receive.

Its choice: “occupy.”

“It’s a very old word, but over the course of just a few months it took on another life and moved in new and unexpected directions, thanks to a national and global movement,” Ben Zimmer, chairman of the organization’s New Words Committee, said in an announcement. “The movement itself was powered by the word.”

In case you went on media sabbatical last year, occupy is a “verb, noun, and combining form referring to the Occupy protest movement.”

Zimmer had teased this choice for months, telling “On The Media” host Brooke Gladstone in October that “occupy” was the frontrunner.

He also said that “winning,” the word made famous by Charlie Sheen, was the favorite early in the year. It didn’t make the list of finalists, although a version of the word landed the top spot on the society’s “most unnecessary” word of the year:

“Bi-winning—term used by Charlie Sheen to describe himself pridefully, dismissing accusations of being bipolar.”

The society’s list of finalists for Word of the Year (and its definitions for them):

1. Occupy
2. FOMO —acronym for “Fear of Missing Out,” describing anxiety over being inundated by information on social media.
3. The 99%, 99-percenters—those held to be at a financial or political disadvantage to the top moneymakers, the 1-percenters.
4. Humblebrag—expression of false humility, especially by celebrities on Twitter.
5. Job creator—a member of the top 1 percent of moneymakers.

The society also voted on top words in a variety of other categories, including most unnecessary, most useful, most euphemistic, and more.

“Tebowing,” which refers to posing for a picture as if you’re praying (you know, as quarterback Tim Tebow does on the sidelines), was among the words voted least likely to succeed. Given its namesake, I might bet against that pick—as long as it doesn't have to face “Bradying.”

(Image via)