11 OCTOBER 2018

After candidates for the SA Word of the Year 2018 were debated and their merits considered the Pan South African Language Board (PanSALB) take pleasure in announcing that the following words have been shortlisted: 

1.         Thuma Mina

2.         Land expropriation without compensation   

3.         Commission

According to PanSALB the above words capture the ethos, mood, or preoccupations of 2018. The winner would be announced on International Dictionary Day, i.e. Tuesday, 16 October 2018 live on eNCA which is International Dictionary Day.

“The SA Word of the Year need not have been coined within the past twelve months,” said PanSALB Acting CEO Ms Angelina Netshiheni.  “To qualify for consideration we look for evidence that its usage was on everybody’s lips and that its usage has increased significantly across a broad range of media”, she added.

Some of the words that were considered include the following:

• State Capture
• Sha sha
• Kuzobalit
• On fleek

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Stand a chance of winning a dictionary by predicting the SA Word of the Year via our social media pages. Use #DictionaryDay #SAWordoftheYear to post on social media: Facebook: @PanSALB; Twitter:@PanSALB; Instagram: pansalb_za 

HISTORY

International Dictionary Day was given recognition in honour of Noah Webster’s birthday (October 16, 1758) and was set aside as a day to emphasize the importance of learning and using dictionary skills and increasing one’s vocabulary.  Webster is considered the Father of the American Dictionary.