MANILA, Philippines - Experts from the American Dialect Society's (ADS) chose "techie" words as "Word of the Year" and "Word of the Decade."

In a press statement on the website of ADS, "tweet" was voted as the Word of the Year while "google" was voted as the Word of the Decade.

The voting session was held in the ADS's headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland last January 8.

"Tweet" means a short message sent through micro-blogging site Twitter.com and the act of sending such a message. "Google" means to search the internet.

"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, chair of the New Words Committee of the ADS, in a statement.

Words chosen for the distinctions have to be "newly prominent or notable in the past year."

A phrase can be nominated for the distinction. A word of the decade, meanwhile, need not be in use for the entire decade in question.

Barrett thought "blog" would win as the word of the decade, but later realized that "more people google than blog."

"Plus, many people think 'blog' just sounds ugly. Maybe Google's trademark lawyers would have preferred it, anyway," he quipped.

Votes were cast by the organization's members; composed of writers, linguists, academicians, students, etymologists, grammarians, historians, lexicographers, editors and researchers.

Word play

The ADS claims their practice of voting for Word of the Year and Word of the Decade is "the longest-running such vote anywhere, the only one not tied to commercial interests, and the world-of-the-year event up to which all others lead."

Voting for words is reportedly made "in fun" and is meant to highlight the fact that language is "normal, ongoing and entertaining."

One of their tongue-in-cheek decisions was in 2002, when they voted "weapons of mass destruction" as the Word of the Decade.

It was defined in their press statement as something "sought for without success in Iraq."

For 2009's chosen words, the committee discussed nominations at an open meeting on January 7, and the final votes were cast the next day.

The group has been choosing words of the year since 1990 and words of the decade since 2000. That same year, ADS also chose the "Word of the Millennium" (she) and the "Word of the Century" (jazz).

ADS, which was founded in 1889, is dedicated to the study of the English language in North America and other languages and dialects that influence or are influenced by it.

It publishes the quarterly journal "American Speech."

The 119-year-old organization is open to everyone who has an interest in language. Report by Kristine Servando, abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak.