`Subprime' is linguists' word of year

`Subprime' is linguists' word of year

news.yahoo.com

Even the American Dialect Society knows how risky home mortgages are these days. The group of wordsmiths chose "subprime" as 2007's Word of the Year at its annual convention Friday.
"`Subprime' has been around with bankers for awhile, but now everyone is talking about `subprime,'" said Wayne Glowka, a spokesman for the group and a dean at Reinhardt College in Waleska, Ga. "It's affecting all kinds of people in all kinds of places."
As for "subprime," Glowka said it is an odd word — at least as far as linguists are concerned.

The prefix "sub" translates roughly to "below the standard," while "prime" means something close to "the best."

So, according to Glowka, the word really means "far below the best."

"People were saying that students were referring to their tests, `I'm going to subprime this; I'm going to mess it up,'" he said.

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I'm sorry but IMO this labeling and blame is disgusting. I have had enough of this word and how the entire economy is being pinned on a group of people. It is just another form of discrimination and it gives others a place to lay the blame instead of looking in the mirror.
The American Dialect Society is at the very least helping to label a group of American citizens as "far below the best"


news.yahoo.com
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Actually, when I hear the word I think of the bankers being subprime. Kinda like subhuman. Subprime loans are just the latest fad in predatory lending. Instead of the sweaty guy with a cigar, they dress up in a three piece suit and give you a glossy brochure.

Right now, they don't break your knee caps when you can't pay, but when things start to get really bad in a year or so, I wouldn't count on that.