Words of the 2000-2009 Decade Trivia Quiz

Answer: Truthiness

Appearing on "The Colbert Report", a satirical news program, Stephen Colbert led the nation with this word that appeared at the top of the Webster 2006 word list AND the American Dialect Society's list. The word refers to truth attained from a gut instinct as opposed to fact or proven evidence through intellectual observation or logic. According to Colbert in interviews, the term highlights the United States' selfish opinion on truth not only being something that people 'feel' is correct, but that it is something that can only be correct because 'they' are the ones feeling its merit.

In a sense, it pokes fun at the public's disregard for empirical fact in various aspects of life. Since the show's debut, Colbert has also coined the term 'Wikiality'.

Answer: Sustainability

The term 'sustainability' refers to peoples' abilities to both maintain healthy, functional lives while taking into account the natural environment. Due to the more Earth-friendly focus placed upon citizens in the 2000s, many sustainable productions and actions have been put into effect from replacing plastic shopping bags to building 'greener' structures to composting or recycling. With growing technology and public awareness, the basic plan is to avoid impact on the planet while allowing the current series of ecosystems to endure the negative factors currently in place.

Answer: Texting

Texting, text messaging, or SMSing, is a cell phone-related form of communication using the text input on a phone to send a wireless 'e-mail-like' message to anyone with a capable handheld device. As this feature cost less than normal calling and as it could be done much faster, text messaging quickly became a norm in terms of communication. Due to a surge in the amount of text messaging, phones were soon released with full keyboards built in. Handheld devices such as the iPhone have the ability to log entire message histories on their memory.

As with e-mail, text messaging has the ability to generate spam.

Answer: WMDs

WMDs refers to 'Weapons of Mass Destruction', weapons capable of wiping out populations and causing wide-scale catastrophe, whether in a specific isolated place or worldwide. While the United States Government sent troops to Iraq to locate these weapons, there is no evidence that said weapons were discovered at this time though media outlets all had different opinions on the matter. Iraq possessed materials to construct said weapons (declaring these in 2009), but nothing substantial was found by American troops. President Bush later admitted his regret in regards to the handling of intelligence from the Iraq War.

Answer: Twitter

"Twitter.com", a site whose principal function is to allow for social grooming and inane babble, became a companion in the Facebook generation. Using nothing more than 140 characters per post, Twitter acts as a wall for users to post what they want in the moment from their computers, cell phones or wireless devices.

As a result, the site is flooded with nonsense more than half the time. Facebook has had a near identical part of their site which can accommodate for more than 140 characters (a basic status update) but nonetheless, visitors have enjoyed the simple functions of their Twitter pages, opting to follow friends and converse in snippets rather than in lengthy messages.

Answer: Misunderestimate

First said by Bush in a speech in 2000, 'misunderestimate' remained one of Bush's most popular '-isms' through the decade. Known for his flubs behind the podium, Bush made himself notorious for melting the English language in front of the reporters. Among his most notable quotes are...
"Make no mistake about it, I understand how tough it is, sir. I talk to families who die."
"I understand small business growth. I was one."
"You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass... a literacy test."

Much of these mistakes have been used against Bush in regards to satirical jabs and have become synonymous with his reign as President.

Answer: H1N1

H1N1, a strain of influenza known to people as 'Swine Flu', has recurred for the populace every couple decades, but after ramped up fears in the late 2000s. While H5N1 refers to the Avian 'Bird' Flu, H1N1 gained notoriety very quickly after the first outbreaks becoming part of public vocabulary after use in the media.

While those who have contracted the disease may exhibit the same symptoms as normal influenza patients, as always, the possibility remains that some may be more susceptible. Though most of the world received both confirmed cases and deaths as a result, vaccinations have been available.

The flu can not be contracted from pork products or proximity to swine, despite its name.

Answer: Google

Started in a California garage back in the late 1990s, Google quickly became the world's leading search engine, basing itself in several countries worldwide and constantly expanding. A single day of surfing can generate millions upon millions of hits.

In the late 2000s, Google also bought Youtube, the Internet's largest user-generated video service. Google has also developed cell phones, web browsers, and email clients (under the Gmail name) to expand their services. Originally, the name 'Google' was a misspelling of the word 'googol' referring to the number 10 to the 100th power.

Answer: Bailout

And Bailout is exactly what many countries (including the United States, Canada, the UK, and the United Arab Emirates) had to do in 2008 and 2009 to keep afloat. With a recession in play, many countries had to feed money into investment groups and banks in order to ensure that they didn't 'go under'.

Although many people found themselves unemployed by the turn of the decade, this preventative measure softened the inevitable blow to the economy. Particular points to note include the auto crisis in the United States and major deficit in the UAE economy after many years of prosperity through natural resources.

Despite the U.S. Government's so-called 'bailout' in 2008, it was actually a loan to manufacturers meant to be paid back after regaining footing.

Answer: Global Warming

Global warming relates to the consistent rising of the Earth's average temperature and is inherently tied to the melting of the polar ice caps, changing climates, and obscure weather patterns created through human activity. After the release of Al Gore's award-winning documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth", the problem was brought to the forefront and gained much public awareness. Global Warming was created by a various array of factors from the smog created between the Industrial Revolution and now to the mining of fossil fuels to the invention of CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons) and aerosol cans.

While many have felt that global warming is a reversible process if acted upon quickly, some feel that it may be Earth's final undoing.