Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011

#Winning by Charlie Sheen

Charlie Sheen with his wild parties and booze-fueled rants provided us with more catchphrase fodder this year than any celebrity by far. But #winning had the most staying power, a credit to its curt length and inspiring connotation. After emerging from rehab in February, Charlie Sheen appeared on The Alex Jones Show, a conservative talk-radio show, to discuss his new-found cleanliness, Sheen introduced the word to describe his supposed enviable existence. "I'm so tired of pretending like my life isn't perfect and bitchin' and just winning every second," he sounded off. And that was all it took to inspire the public to begin "winning," too. The word quickly became a long-standing Twitter hashtag, which was used as punctuation for any exclamatory sentence. Sheen filed a trademark for the full term ("Duh, Winning) and launched a tour to spread his catchphrases and attempt to boost his appeal. And though he's been booted from the CBS's Two and a Half Men, his legacy lives on: "winning" has became a part of our growing vernacular for use in those situations that demand arrogance — as so many do.