Error Message Most Frequent 'Word' in the Media

The internet error message "404" has been named the most frequently appearing English word in the media this year, although it is neither English nor a word.

According to an analysis by Global Language Monitor on Monday, the numeric code accompanying the failure message "not found" was used most frequently in the media of English-speaking countries with their combined population of about 1.8 billion.

Internet terms swept second to fourth place with “fail” ranked second, followed by "hashtag" (the # symbol used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet) and "@Pontifex," the official Twitter account of Pope Francis.

"The Optic" came in fifth as it "is threatening to overtake 'the narrative.'"

Words related to U.S. government scandals filled the top 10, with "surveillance," "drones," "deficit" and "sequestration" taking sixth to ninth place. In 10th place was "emancipate."

The top phrase was "toxic politics," referring to "American-style scorch-and-burn political campaigns becoming the norm for democracies worldwide." Second place went to "federal shutdown."

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