Selfie is the Word of the Year 2013

Infographic of Selfie

Selfie Etymology: No, a Drunken Australian Man Did Not Coin the Word Selfie

Tsunami

"Tsunami" is made up from two Japanese words, "tsu", harbour and "nami", wave or waves ("tsunami" is singular and plural in that language).

Out at sea the energy of a tsunami is dispersed through a tall column of water and the wave may be small enough to be missed. As it approaches land the shoaling water increases the height of the wave and speeds it up until it powers ashore. Japanese fishermen at sea wouldn't notice a tsunami passing them until they returned home and found their harbours destroyed by a wave that seemed to come from nowhere.

How Tsunami Became an English Word After National Geographic Reported 1896 Disaster

On the evening of June 15, 1896, the northeast coast of Hondo, the main island of Japan, was struck by a great earthquake wave (tsunami), which was more destructive of life and property than any earthquake convulsion of this century in that empire.

Thus began an article in the September 1896 issue of National Geographic Magazine. It was a startling account 115 years ago by Eliza Ruhama Scidmore of a disaster that killed 26,975 people, and grievously wounded the 5,390 survivors.

National Public Radio reported today that this was the first use of the word tsunami in the English language.


Sources:

World Wide Words

Nationalgeographic.com

Keystroke revolution

A rioting demonstration spreading via the Internet and social fora.

It is represented through the image of hands typing on a keyboard getting connected at global level. In particular, this form can be referred to the uprisings which have been bursting out throughout Middle East and Northern African countries since the beginning of 2011.

Espressione che indica una rivoluzione che si è propagata attraverso la Rete e i social forum ove si è sfruttata l’immagine delle mani che operano sulla tastiera del computer per rendere possibile la connessione a livello globale. Tale formula espressiva può riferirsi, nello specifico, alla serie di movimenti di rivolta che dall’inizio dell’anno hanno interessato il Medio Oriente e il Nord Africa.

Source: Englishfor