"Subprime": Word of the Year

Call it a little “housing humor” – or not.

Falling into the category of “who knows, who cares, but oh my that’s interesting,” the American Dialect Society, a group that’s dedicated to the study of the English language in North America, plus other languages, says the selection is based on a word’s importance.

“When you have investment companies losing billions of dollars over something like bundled subprime loans, then you have to consider whether [a word is] important,” said Wayne Glowka, chair of the New Words Committee of the American Dialect Society in a press release. “You probably also want to think about paying off that third mortgage.”

Other home finance-related finalists included exploding ARM (loans that explode beyond the borrower’s ability to pay for them); liar’s loan/liar loan (money borrowed under false pretenses); NINJA (No Income, No Job or Assets); and the always popular scratch-and-dent loan (a loan or mortgage that has become a risky debt investment, especially one secured with minimal documentation or made by a borrower who has missed payments.

(Photo credit: Nksz, Stock Exchange. Thanks!)