Los Angeles:
'ObamaVision', a media-coined term for US President Barack Obama's pledge of change, has been named this year's most influential English word from television.
According to the Global Language Monitor's (GLM) annual analysis, 'ObamaVision' pipped 'financial meltdown' to become the word to have most profound influence on the English language from television in 2009. These were followed by the death of Michael Jackson (in June), the emergence of Susan Boyle (Britain's surprise spinster singing sensation) and the rise of hulu.com (a website for broadcasting made-for-TV shows over the Internet).
"The three screens in the post-modern home became even more apparent during this television season, with viewers moving seamlessly among their flat screen TV, their laptop, and their 3G phone," Paul JJ Payack, GLM's chief word analyst said.
"This year was dominated by the advent of ObamaVision, to the newest reality show: the global financial meltdown. And then Michael Jackson's death commandeers the worldwide airways for weeks on end," he added.
For the study, GLM used its proprietary algorithm, a predictive quantities indicator to track the frequency of words and phrases in the global print and electronic media, on the Internet, throughout the blogosphere and social media as well as accessing proprietary databases.