FOMO

The American Dialect Society is currently voting on its selection for Word of the Year. You can see the list of candidates here.

There are lots of fun suggestions, such as: humblebrag ('expression of false humility, especially by celebrities on Twitter'); brony ('adult male fan of the “My Little Pony” cartoon franchise'); and assholocracy ('government by obnoxious multi-millionaires').

But my favourite is FOMO ('fear of missing out'). Of course, in this part of the world, we don't need this new word, as we already have kiasu. So my suggestion is actually this: let's forget FOMO and promote the use of kiasu instead. It's far more stylish and evocative.