‘Stay the course’ has staying power

updated 10:20 p.m. ET Dec. 21, 2006

LOS ANGELES - “Stay the course,” the phrase dropped by the Bush administration as it searched for a new policy in Iraq, was declared the catch phrase of the year Thursday by language use group Global Language Monitor.

“It makes number one because it was declared inoperative,” said Global Language monitor President Paul J.J. Payack.

In second place was the ill-fated book title. “If I Did it” by O.J. Simpson. The idea of Simpson telling how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend if he had actually murdered them outraged so many people that it was withdrawn. But the phrase was an immediate winner in the language.

Simpson was found not guilty of the murders in a criminal trial but held liable the deaths in a civil proceeding.

In third place was a series of emoticons used in E-mail and text messages: “. - )” which Payack said meant “wasted.”

In fourth was “Airline pulp,” a Chinese/English hybrid way of describing food served aboard an airliner.

"Serial texter" was fifth, denoting the widespread use of text messages among the world’s youth.

The top catch phrases for 2005 were "out of the mainstream," used to describe the ideology of any political opponent, and bird flu or Avian flu.

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