One of the stories that gets lots of press this time of the year is what word the dictionary publishers have chosen to be the Word of the Year. This year, the New Oxford American Dictionary featured “unfriend” as the word of the year. Jon Gordon of American Public Media’s Future Tense interviewed Ammon Shea, consulting editor with the Oxford University Press, on why his company made the decision to include “unfriend.”

The word is a verb, and means to remove a person from your list of contacts on social media networks. In a lot of cases, these folks have been referred to as “friends,” though depending on the network, you may or may not have a deep enough relationship with them to be actual friends with them.

Actually, just a couple of days later in Future Tense, some people said they use “defriend” instead. Shea said the publisher chose “unfriend” because the editors found it to be more common.

Shea said that the Oxford University Press chooses words of the year because people are “captivated” by them. They illustrate the way language is changing, he said. But Shea also said that technology is having a great effect on the English language. Want proof? Other finalists for the word of the year include “hashtag,” a term made popular by Twitter users. The simple pound sign (or octothorpe, if you prefer — I know I do) is used as a one-character tag to identify memes going around the 140-character microblogging service. “Netbook” is another finalist. “Paywall” (a firewall that blocks access to a section of a Web site only available to paying subscribers) is another.

In the interview, Shea and Gordon also discuss the word “intexticated” which refers to the act of driving while texting. Research suggests that the distraction caused by text messaging while driving is very serious.

If you’re curious, other non-technology-related terms that almost made it to word of the year were “death panel,” “birther” and “tramp stamp.” You can check more out at the Oxford University Press’s blog.

Shea said it can be tough to determine which words will catch on and which will remain silly slang. I’ve heard “unfriend” used for years. I’m pretty sure it’ll last, at least for a while. The fact that there’s a name for deleting people from your network is sort of a saddening thought, though.

For more on social networking and related subjects, take a look at these articles:

Are social networking sites addictive?
How Online Social Media Networks Work
What’s the difference between notebooks, netbooks and ultra-mobile PCs?