Tweet, google voted top words

BALTIMORE, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- Members of the American Dialect Society have voted "tweet" the 2009 word of the year and "google" the word of the decade.

"Both words are, in the end, products of the Information Age, where every person has the ability to satisfy curiosity and to broadcast to a select following, both via the Internet," said Grant Barrett, head of the society's New Words Committee.

Tweet used as a noun is a short message sent via the social networking service Twitter.com. Tweet used as a verb is the act of sending such a message. Google used as a verb means the act of searching the Internet and derives from "Google," the U.S. corporation specializing in Internet search.

Dialect society members voted Friday in Baltimore at the 20th annual words of the year vote.

The 119-year-old society includes linguists, etymologists and other word aficionados who believe changes in language are "normal, ongoing, and entertaining," the society said in a release Friday.