World says Jai Ho Bollywood

Words like global warming, 9/11, Obama, Indian terms Bollywood, Jai ho and slumdog have been named the top words of the decade by a group that studies usage and has also listed the period’s leading phrases and names.

Even a decade ago, the term ‘Bollywood’ was supposed to be something that marked the Indian film industry’s aspirations to be ‘Hollywood-like’. But not any more — along with such words as global warming, 9/11, and Obama, Indian terms Bollywood, Jai ho and slumdog have been named the top words of the decade by a group that studies usage and has also listed the period’s leading phrases, and names.

The top words named by the Global Language Monitor (GLM) are global warming, 9/11, and Obama followed by bailout, evacuee, derivative, Google, surge, Chinglish, and tsunami. Twenty-first on the list is the word ‘slumdog’, popularised by the multiple Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

The catchword of the film’s popular song Jai ho has been ranked 16th in the top phrases of the decade while the term Bollywood the 17th top name in the list. Bollywood, ofcourse, is happy to hear about this. “Having Bollywood or Jai Ho as part of GLM just goes ahead to prove that India is recognised by its international counterparts,” says actress Amrita Rao.

Other entries in the top words list are H1N1, misunderestimate (one of the first and most enduring of Bushisms), Twitter and blog. The top phrases of the decade are climate change, financial tsunami, war on terror (Bush administration’s response to 9/11), swine flu, king of pop, stay the course (Bush’s off-stated guidance for Iraq war) and ‘Yes, we can!’ (Obama’s winning campaign slogan).

The top names are Heroes (emergency responders who rushed into the twin towers after 9/11), Osama bin Laden, Dubya (George Bush’s nickname), Taliban, Katrina, Tiger Woods, Saddam Hussein and Facebook.

With inputs from agencies