'Unfriend' is 2009 word of the year

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Story Created: Nov 17, 2009 at 9:06 AM PDT

Story Updated: Nov 17, 2009 at 9:06 AM PDT

By Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) - What word sums up 2009? How about unfriend?

That's the New Oxford American Dictionary's 2009 Word of the Year. It means to remove someone as a friend on a social networking Web site such as Facebook.

Each year Oxford University Press tracks how the English language is changing and chooses a word that best reflects the mood of the year.

Oxford lexicographer Christine Lindberg says unfriend has "real lex appeal."

Finalists for 2009 also included netbook, which is a small laptop, and sexting, which is sending sexually explicit texts and pictures by cell phone.

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