Royal Wedding And Charlie Sheen Top TV Poll

The 'Royal Wedding' of Kate Middleton and Prince William is the top television phrase of 2011, according to The Global Language Monitor.
'Royal Wedding' beat Charlie Sheen’s self-descriptive 'Winner' term to gain the top spot. 'Arab Spring', 'X-Factor', and 'Oprah' all made it into the top five.
'Fukashima', 9/11, 'Obama-vision', 'Chicago-style pols' and Zombies completed the Top Ten.
"This apparently is shaping up to be the Year of Kate (Middleton). She has come to dominate the small screen through her engagement, her fashion choices and most of all her Royal Wedding," said Paul JJ Payack, President and Chief Word Analyst of the Global Language Monitor.
"Aside from the princess, this is the first time that 'news' has dominated the Top TeleWords of any given year. There are those who maintain that the pace of events is accelerating - and it does appear that social media is playing an ever-expanding role in that process."
The awards are annually announced at the beginning of the fall television season in the US, traditionally opened with the 63rd Annual Emmy Awards. This is the eighth annual analysis by Austin-based Global Language Monitor which uses a math equation to track the frequency of words and phrases in print, electronic and social media.
The Top Telewords of the 2011 season with commentary follow:
1. Royal Wedding (Kate) — Kate reigns once more, this time on the small screen.
2. Winner (Charlie Sheen) – Winner, Tiger blood, goddesses … Fukashima was not the only meltdown on the world stage this year.
3. Arab Spring — The rolling unrest in the Middle East to some extent fueled by social media, such as Facebook and Twitter.
4. X-factor — In algebra, X is the unknown quantity or variable. In TV lingo it stands for Simon Cowell's empire of dozens of X-factor shows around the globe.
5. Oprah – A name without precedent (or predecessor) rising to prominence because of Winfrey’s season-long farewell tour.
6. Fukashima – The epicenter for the Japanese Triple Disaster (tsunami, earthquake and nuclear meltdown).
7. 9/11 – The recent 10th year commemoration reminds that it is one of the handful of historical events whose date will actually 'live in infamy'.
8. Obama-vision – The President's appearances have turned increasingly more prosaic in the third year of his presidency.
9. Chicago-style politics (The Good Wife) – Rahm Emanuel vies with the Good Wife for the better rendition of a Chicago Pol's life.
10. Zombies (The Walking Dead) – Continue to infect the world through dozens of shows on the small screen.
(GK/BMcC)