April 2006

March's TOP TWENTY

March's list looks much like February's but with a few subtle changes. Filibuster continued to move down the list, and fungible slipped off entirely. Meanwhile, agnostic and paradigm moved up to Nos. 13 and 16, respectively, and inept continued its climb from No. 16 in January to No. 8 this month.

See March's full list -- and take a look back at last March's list.

  1. effect
  2. affect
  3. integrity
  4. insipid
  5. love
  6. metaphor
  7. pandemic
  8. inept
  9. ubiquitous
  10. contempt
 
  1. irony
  2. empathy
  3. agnostic
  4. ensure
  5. dichotomy
  6. paradigm
  7. gregarious
  8. ambiguous
  9. filibuster
  10. egregious

The contrast with last March's Top Twenty is a bit more dramatic. Nearly half of the words on last year's list have fallen off, most notably blog, holding the No. 4 slot last year. Insipid, pandemic, inept, and contempt had yet to spark our interest at that point, leaving room for facetious, esoteric, cynical, and paradox, which now lurk in the Nos. 21, 22, 24, and 26 slots, poised to return to the Top Twenty as soon as interest in any of the current crop fades.


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