Ten reasons to be cheerful about 2010?
As 2010 disappears out of view and we come kicking and screaming into 2011, lets take this opportunity to look back at the top ten words that have made an impact on the world this past year.
10. Austerity measures: This involves reducing debt that a country may have, by either decreasing public spending or lowering the amount spent on benefits and public services. A prime example being Ireland, as their parliament is getting ready to vote on the 15th of December on whether to
accept a bailout package from the European Union. The main objective of the bailout package is to restore the health of the country´s banking system. Unfortunately this usually has a great effect on the less affluent, and can cause many other disadvantages to the citizens involved.
9. Vuvuzela: A plastic horn, this annoying instrument came to the world´s attention at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Heard constantly throughout every match, many viewers were wondering if there was a large bee population swarming around the stadium. It caused so much controversy, that UEFA have banned them from Champions League matches and from EURO 2012. Other sports teams have followed suit, banning them from their stadiums.
7. Leaked Cable : A diplomatic cable is a confidential message sent between an embassy and its foreign ministry. A leaked cable refers to a message that has been put out into the public eye. This is what the American government is so concerned about with regards to the website Wikileaks, a website created by Julian Assange that shows messages which have been sent between embassy and foreign ministry.
6. Facebook: It is strange now to ask someone if they have facebook, and they tell you they don´t. So popular is the social networking site, there is a verb form “to facebook someone” as in “I’ll facebook her to see if she can come to the party.” The popularity of the site seems to be increasing every day and this year a movie ‘The Social Network’ was released. Detailing Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg´s journey in getting Facebook to reach the heights it has, it describes the lawsuits and other problems he has. I guess if you turn your company into a multi-million dollar business, you´re always going to make a few enemies.
4. Inflation: Due to the financial turmoil in the world today, many words associated with money can be found in the news. Inflation, when something costs more, so that something you were able to buy for $1 now costs $1.10. Basically the value of the country’s money has decreased, and this causes a product’s price to rise.
3. Debt: Recent economic issues in Ireland and Greece have to do with one main issue; debt. With recent bailouts of Greece and Ireland, there seem to be growing worries that other countries may soon follow suit. Talks of economic problems in Portugal and Spain, might mean we could see protests similar to the ones we’ve seen recently in Ireland and Greece, as many European countries continue to build up their debt, rather than reduce it.
2. Korea: Always somewhat of a ticking time bomb, tensions are more heated than ever due to the incident involving the artillery attack of a South
Korean island by the North. While things have cooled down slightly, it will be interesting to see what happens between these two countries in the
future and what role the US and China will play.
1. Wikileaks: The website that has caused much controversy around the world, a website that was created in 2006 but really only now come to the
world’s attention due to the site’s release of many confidential messages and documents. Given the US’ worries, one has to wonder what impact the site will have on the US and other countries in the future.