by the fact that yet again wall street seemed to be getting the goodies while main street got shafted for 2009 green shoots probably the most used and abused term of the year was a strong contender created in the uk by then chancellor of the exchequer norman lamont in 1991 it really came into its own after federal reserve chairman ben bernanke used it in a tv interview on march 15 2009 the phrase thereafter crept into virtually every discussion on the shape of the global economy with even legendary investor warren buffett joking that he hadnt seen any green shoots despite having a cataract operation done on his left eye however the ads ultimately voted for tweet as word of the year and google the verb not the noun as the word of the decade as grant barrett of ads pointed out both words are in the end products of the information age where every person has the ability to satisfy curiosity and to broadcast to a select following both via the internet and though woty lists havent got around to it yet sooner or later theyll have to acknowledge the term that was on everyones lips in 2010 not least because its also a strong contender for movie of the year social network