2011 The Year in Words

Just a year ago, nobody was “occupy”-ing anything, except maybe a porta-potty or a motel room.

The combination of “super” and “committee” was not yet a political punch line. “Debt ceiling” caused no panic. We were blissfully unaware of “Sandusky.”

But thanks to good old 2011, our vocabulary is forever altered.

Protesters occupied and we divided, becoming the “99 percent,” the “1 percent.” Not to mention 2 percent vs. skim.

“Shutdown” loomed repeatedly, while “compromise” went into hiding. We did not actually bust the debt ceiling, but we did get “downgraded.” Fears of a “double-dip” have faded, but Micheal Lind, writing for the online magazine Salon, predicts an age of “turboparalysis” with much tumult but little economic progress. I'm “Tebowing” that he's wrong.

“Siri,” I need to find the nearest mountaintop cabin. Just in case.

The deficit-cutting super committee flopped famously, but “Super PACs” are a huge success as a shady, slick conduit for pumping unlimited cash into politics.

The presidential race, which starts in Iowa, did its lexicographic part. Herman Cain founded the nation of “Ubeki-beki-beki- beki-stan-stan” and brought “sexual harassment” back. Rick Perry uttered an “oops” heard 'round the nation. Mitt Romney reminded us that “corporations are people.” But the federal government, the GOP field unanimously agrees, is run by aliens from the planet FDR.

Locally, the City Council had to give up on its convention center “PLA,” and the mayor's metaphorical “three-legged stool” to pay for flood protection collapsed in May's tax vote. A penny tax extension is back on the ballot in March, so “levees,” “flood walls” and “removable flood walls” remain a refrain.

The idea of “cladding” the city's downtown arena was crushed and discarded. Proud “snout house” owners remain unbowed by architectural snobbery. “Senate District 18” is no longer the center of the political universe.

Picking a word to sum up 2011 is tough. Merriam-Webster says “pragmatic” was searched often online, likely by politicos who forgot what it means. Dictionary.com picked “tergiversate,” to repeatedly change an attitude or opinion. Not bad.

But I pick “supposal,” that squishy word used by Cedar Rapids school leaders to describe potential school closing options. Supposals are less final and scary than “proposals.” No, really.

It is a real word, by the way, with a 14th century origin. That's pre-Enlightenment, which seems appropriate.

Supposal has the perfect mix of fakery, uncertainty, false comfort and official nonsense to be a fitting descriptor of 2011. It's my word of the year. (Pause for applause)

Now, I'll make my New Year's resolutions, I mean, supposals.