ANDREA SEABROOK, host:
Every year, the American Dialect Society, which is dedicated to the study of American English, votes on a word of the year. The group's members include linguists, lexicographers and etymologists, grammarians, professors and amateurs. The word of the year doesn't have to be brand new, but it does need to have the flair of the year. Past winners include metrosexual, millennium bug and chad, as in hanging chad.
And now, the 2007 Word of the Year as been announced, and it is - drum roll please - subprime. By now, you know what that means. But did you know it's gotten a little currency beyond the world of real estate lending? Some college students are reported to be saying I subprimed that exam, meaning to have bombed it - the term of art in my college days.