"Distracted driving" - what many are guilty of when they use digital devices on the go - is rapidly entering law books around the world and earns the 2009 Word of the Year choice at Webster's New World College Dictionary.

A sign of the times surely, distracted driving is another reflection - and consequence - of our ongoing romance with all things digital and mobile and the enhanced capabilities they provide.

While it now may be easier and quicker to feed our multitasking habits, it is not always safe, and many jurisdictions are formalizing that position by making it a crime to text or otherwise use a cellphone while driving. In other words, CrackBerry users beware, lest a charge of DWD (driving while distracted) or DWT (driving while texting) stain your record, not to mention endanger yourself and others. (CrackBerry - the mocking term for the BlackBerry and its "addicts" - was the 2006 Word of the Year.)

Among the runners-up were:

- "cloud computing" - computer operations in which documents and data are created, edited, and stored remotely on servers and accessed by the user via an Internet connection (a beta definition, but this term is so well established that it will likely be added to the annual update of the College Dictionary in 2010)

- "wallet biopsy" - examination, before medical service is provided, of a patient's ability to pay, enabling the health care provider to decide whether free or discounted medical care is appropriate; a term probably fueled in part by the debate on American national health care a

- and a number of business and economy-related terms, such as "stimulus" and "Too Big To Fail."