Word of the year (Portugal)

In Portugal, the Word of the Year (Portuguese: Palavra do Ano) poll is carried out since 2009 by the Porto Editora publishing house.

Background and methodology

Porto Editora started the Word of the Year poll to "underscore the lexical wealth and creative dynamics of the Portuguese Language". The list of candidates is produced by the publishing house through the analysis of the frequence of the usage of words (judged by both its use in mass and social media, as well as searches in Porto Editora online dictionaries), their relevance to the current goings-on, and people's suggestions on the Word of the Year website.[1]

Until the end of November of each year, people are invited to submit their suggestions; the final vote takes place during the month of December. The Word of the Year is announced in a public ceremony in early January of the following year.

List of Words of the Year

Year Word of the Year
(Portugal)		 English translation Explanation
2009 esmiuçar to explain in detail; to scrutinise Word popularised by comedy television show Gato Fedorento Esmiúça Os Sufrágios ("Gato Fedorento Scrutinize the Suffrage"), spoofing the electoral campaign for that year's legislative election.
2010 vuvuzela vuvuzela Popularised during the 2010 FIFA World Cup, its ubiquity (and disruption) led to it being the subject of much controversy with many proposals to limit its use during matches.
2011 austeridade austerity In the context of sovereign default, Prime Minister José Sócrates handed in his resignation when Parliament rejected his government's austerity measures; when Leader of the Opposition Pedro Passos Coelho was elected Prime Minister he went on to adopt an even stricter austerity policy.
2012 entroikado Troika-ed Economic disruption in the wake of the early-2010s financial crisis led the country to negotiate a loan to help stabilise its public finances in 2011: the measures imposed by the loan organising committee (the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund; commonly referred to as "the Troika") led to a prominent rise in the unemployment rate.
2013 bombeiro firefighter The second half of August 2013 was marked by devastating wildfires that caused nine deaths and resulted in a total of approximately 145,000 hectares (360,000 acres) of burned land — the worst fires in eight years.
2014 corrupção corruption Two high-profile political corruption scandals made headlines in 2014: the Face Oculta affair (a money-laundering network which included, among others, former Minister Armando Vara), and the Labirinto affair (in which the Portugal Golden Visa programme was linked to international corruption networks). Later on, former Prime Minister José Sócrates was arrested in Lisbon, accused of corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering.
2015 refugiado refugee The armed conflicts in Middle East countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Eritrea created a great influx of refugees fleeing war and persecution into the Schengen Area: the European Union struggled to cope with the crisis.
2016 geringonça contraption Following the 2015 legislative election, the Socialist Party formed a minority government based on a then-unheard-of confidence-and-supply agreement with the left-wing parties (Left Bloc, Portuguese Communist Party, and Ecologist Party "The Greens"). After People's Party leader Paulo Portas remarked in Parliament "this is not quite a government, it's more of a contraption", the term caught on, and soon was being used to refer to the government by both detractors and supporters.
2017 incêndios wildfires The successive wildfires in June and in October resulted in 111 deaths, 300 hurt, entire communities suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and over 520 thousand hectares (1.285 thousand acres) of burned forest — over half of the burned area in the whole of Europe that year. The government declared three national days of mourning on the two separate occasions.

References

  1. ↑ "Palavra do Ano: Regulamento". palavradoano.pt. Retrieved 2017-12-29.
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