Onvrienden is the other word of the year

Thursday 17 December 2009

Ontvrienden, to un-friend, is the new Dutch word of 2009, according to a poll organised by the Van Dale dictionary group and the Pers newspaper.

Some 6,500 visitors to the woordvanhetjaar.nl website picked ontvrienden - the process of delisting friends on social networking websites such as Facebook and Hyves.

Other candidates included hypotheekleed (mortgage misery), zeilmeisje (sailing girl, a reference to the would-be round the world solo sailor Laura Dekkers) and Mexicaanse griep, as swine flu is known the Netherlands.

Earlier, members of the language association Onze Taal chose twitteren, to send short text messages via the twitter service, as their word of 2009.

Onze Taal pulled out of the Van Dale contest because it claims internet votes are too open to manipulation.

© DutchNews.nl

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