Dec 10, 2014

Geoff Nunberg's "Word of the Year" Is Inspired by Uber

From All Things Considered, on NPR

Feeling Watched? 'God View' Is Geoff Nunberg's Word Of The Year

By Geoff Nunberg

"Infobesity," "lumbersexual," "phablet." As usual, the items that stand out as candidates for word of the year are like its biggest pop songs, catchy but ephemeral. But even a fleeting expression can sometimes encapsulate the zeitgeist. That's why I'm nominating "God view" for the honor.

It's the term that the car service company Uber uses for a map view that shows them the locations of all the Uber cars in an area and silhouettes of the people who ordered them. The media seized on the term this fall when it came out that the company had been entertaining themselves and their guests by pairing that view with their customer data so they could display the movements of journalists and VIP customers as they made their way around New York....

Listen online...

Last updated:

October 4, 2016