As I read about the ADS' decision to declare "occupy" the word of the year, I couldn't help but wonder what would win if we were to vote on the Hashtag of the Year. Therefore, I offer you my own winners for various hashtag categories.
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Occupy was 2011's Word of the Year, as voted on by the American Dialect Society. Each year, the ADS nominates words for various categories, such as most creative, most unnecessary and most likely to succeed. The nominations for Word of the Year are made at their final meeting where the voting takes place. The words nominated for various categories are words we all know, like Tebowing, the 99 percent and planking. But, there are also some less common ones, like bunga bunga, deather and tiger mother.

As I read about the ADS' decision to declare "occupy" the word of the year, I couldn't help but wonder what would win if we were to vote on the Hashtag of the Year. Therefore, I offer you my own winners for various hashtag categories.

Most Useful: #YOLO

The reason this hashtag is the most useful is due to the fact you can add it to the end of basically any tweet. From "Wearing red on UNC campus #YOLO" to "Taking the Wolfline to class #YOLO," this hashtag adds a level of danger and excitement to anything you do.

Most Creative: #Gottfather

By creatively combining the Godfather and Mark Gottfried, one N.C. State student invented the Gottfather in praise of our men's basketball coach. Although this trend hasn't taken off quickly, it has plenty of time to pick up speed due to Gottfried's renewed contract.

Most Mundane: #ncweather

While the weather in North Carolina has been extremely fickle this semester, the #ncweather hashtag is the most mundane. We all know it's 50 degrees outside in the middle of April. We have all been outside and frozen our butts off. You don't need to inform us you need a jacket via tweet.

Most Important: #OneMoreYear

This hashtag explains the importance of C.J. Leslie deciding whether to stay at N.C. State for one more year or to go into the NBA draft. Of course, Leslie announced last week he will be with us one more year. I would like to think this hashtag had something to do with why he stayed.

Most Likely to Succeed: #GoState

Close siblings of this hashtag, #GoPack and #GoWolfpack, are also expected to succeed. These three trends will continue to escalate with the addition of new students next fall and the start of a new football season. As long as N.C. State Athletics exists so will these hashtags.

Least Likely to Succeed: #WearRedFridays

While the effort to promote wearing red on Fridays in support of the school's 125th birthday was strong the first week, Student Government's initiative is wearing off. Students cannot be expected to remember to eat breakfast, much less put on a red shirt after rolling out of bed already late for the dreaded Friday classes.

Hashtag of the Year: #125years

N.C. State turned 125 this year. It would hardly be appropriate for anything but #125years to be the best hashtag. I predict this hashtag will escalate to the most popular in the N.C. State area when the fall semester rolls around. Keep an eye out for this hashtag in order to spot birthday events around campus.

With the official end of classes this Friday, hashtags will die down due to finals. However, I do have a prediction for the coming weeks. A new hashtag will emerge that we will all cherish for the coming months: #summer.

By Madison Murphy

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