'App' is word of year for linguists

THE word is out - "app" has beaten "nom" as the Word of the Year for 2010.

The shortened slang term for a computer or smartphone application was picked by linguists as the word that best sums up the past 12 months.

"Nom" - meaning "yummy food" - was the runner-up. It derives from the Sesame Street Cookie Monster character's sound as he devours his favourite food.

The vote was taken in a Pittsburgh hotel ballroom during the national conference of the Linguistic Society of America, an umbrella group that includes the Dialect Society. About 120 of the 1,000 conference attendees voted in the poll, with neither side entirely satisfied.

Critics of "app" said the word was somewhat stale, while supporters said 2010 was the year the word became omnipresent - with one arguing that her elderly mother knew the term, even though the woman didn't have any apps.

"Nom" supporters simply liked its cheeriness.

Allan Metcalf, the Dialect Society's executive secretary, said: "There's no question 'app' is a very powerful word."