Every year, the American Dialect Society hosts the Academy Awards of words. If a word could win an Oscar, it would be here, at the society's annual gathering, where scholars and linguists vote for the words, phrases, or expressions that reflect the themes of the year before. Words need not be new, the 121-year-old organization points out, but "newly prominent or notable."
"World Wide Web" took the prize in 1995. Later came "Millennium bug," "Google" and "tweet." And on January 7, the American Dialect Society announced "app" (an abbreviated form of "application") the Word of the Year for 2010.
With the unprecedented pace of the new millennium, it surely seems conceivable that "work-life balance" could soon top the list. While not new -- the term came of age during the heyday of Pac Man and power suits -- it has, without a doubt, achieved new prominence of late.
But whether or not "work-life balance" ever wins the war of words, the phrase has long had a divided fan base. Google a few alternatives, such as "work-life integration" or "work-life flexibility," for instance, and it's clear that, for many, the original buzzword has lost its buzz.