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June 2005Words in the NewsWhile filibuster was the big story in May, it wasn't the only word in the news. The Michael Jackson trial, the debate in the Senate, and the release of the new Star Wars movie succeeded in propelling sociopath, dilatory, and sith into the ranks of the most looked up. Find out more details! August 2005Words in the NewsBombings in London, contempt charges against reporter Judith Miller, and a Microsoft announcement were among the stories that sent people to the dictionary. Here's the scoop. October 2005Words in the NewsKatrina and Rita created interest in a wide variety of storm-related words, including typhoon, gouging, dysentery, hunker, and breach. Dick Cheney’s aneurysm and John Roberts’ thoughts on stare decisis also prompted look-ups. Read the whole story, including some tests of spelling skills in the month’s words. November 2005Words in the NewsPandemic and epidemic were frequent look-ups last month, but they are just part of a constellation of terms having to do with the spread of disease. A little rooting around in Merriam-Webster online resources shines some light on outbreak, epidemic, endemic, and pandemic. March 2006Words in the News: sectarianAlthough it didn't make the Top Twenty list for the month, the word sectarian was never out of the daily Top 20 list of most frequently looked-up words in the last week of February. The reason? Daily reports about the upswing in sectarian violence in Iraq. Read on for more about sectarian. May 2006Words in the News: deciderPresident Bush made the news on April 18 when he addressed critics with the words "I'm the decider, and I decide what is best." Read on to see how dictionary users reacted. June 2006Words in the News: amnestyImmigration was in the news quite a lot last month. Following President Bush's address on the subject, a controversy developed about what is and isn't amnesty, and while the debate went on, amnesty appeared high among the most frequently looked-up words. Amnesty gets good coverage in both the Collegiate Encyclopedia and the Unabridged Dictionary. Learn more. September 2006Words in the News: thwart, plot, foilThe discovery (and defusing) of a British-based conspiracy to blow up planes over the Atlantic sent the words thwart, plot, and foil to the top of that week's list most looked-up words. Read on to get the story behind these terms. January 2007Words in the News: pugnaciousMore than two years ago, former President Gerald R. Ford began a series of interviews with journalist Bob Woodward. One unintended consequence of those interviews was that last month a lot of people looked up the word pugnacious in their dictionaries. Get the scoop. April 2007Words in the News: subpoena, indict, mea culpaWashington, D.C. was abuzz with investigation last month. The political shenanigans helped the words subpoena, indict, and mea culpa make the daily list of most looked-up words for a few days in March. Read on to see the entire bill of particulars. November 2007Words in the NewsAlthough it didn't make October's Top Twenty list, the word admonishment did spike briefly, possibly from news accounts concerning what might be politely termed a dustup on Capitol Hill. Read all about it! January 2008Words in the NewsLast month's brutal assassination of prominent Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto sent news-watchers checking out the dictionary definition of the word shrapnel. The etymology field on shrapnel reveals the word is an eponym, named for English artillery officer Henry Shrapnel, but there is still more to the story. February 2008Words in the NewsCaucus is one of the words that Noah Webster recorded and defined before any other lexicographer, presenting it in his very first dictionary in 1806. Like some other terms of politics and government such as presidential and selectman, caucus was new and distinctively American. But just as the current presidential races were not decided by the Iowa caucus, there is an enduring question concerning the origins of the word itself. March 2008Words in the NewsHillary Clinton's closing words in the Feb 21, 2008 Democratic debate — in which she said that whatever happens in the future, she was honored to be with Barack Obama — inspired many commentators to apply the word valedictory to her statement. Over the next few days, news-watchers clicked on valedictory, enough to boost that word into the top 100 for the month. April 2008Words in the NewsLast month's announcement of Eliot Spitzer's ties to a prostitution ring was followed by a spectacularly rapid fall from power. Media coverage on New York's governor also led to three words spiking on the most-looked-up list during that week: tryst, hubris, and tawdry. Nowadays (and in the case of the former governor), a tryst refers to "an agreement, often between lovers, to meet at a specified time and place." But judging from the full story of tryst, all's fair in love and war and trysting. May 2008Words in the NewsAlthough it didn't quite make the Top Twenty list for the month, the word elite got plenty of attention this month. The lookups followed charges of "elitism" laid at Senator Obama's doorstep after the "bitter" incident. (Bitter, by the way, didn't receive an extraordinary number of lookups). Read up on elite. June 2008Words in the NewsThe cyclone in Myanmar brought that word into the news cycle (and to a #3 spot on the May Top Twenty). Siroccos, hurricanes, and sometimes tornadoes all can be considered cyclones. What all cyclones have in common is this: a system of winds rotating clockwise in the southern hemisphere and counterclockwise in the northern hemisphere. What can we add to the story? September 2008Words in the NewsThe cover of the July 21 edition of The New Yorker magazine featured Barack and Michelle Obama in a cartoon that became very controversial. The New Yorker editor David Remnick defended it as "satire;" New York's Governor David Paterson condemned it as "feeding the prurient interest of bigoted, prejudiced people in this society." The words satire and prurient were both among the most frequently looked-up words for a few days in the middle of July when the magazine hit the newsstands. Does the cartoon fit the definition of satire, and is it appropriate to call the public's interest prurient? Let's take a look at these two words with cultural stories to tell. October 2008Words in the NewsTwo thousand three hundred years ago, Aristotle described man as a "political animal." Last month, as interest in the surprise nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket became a national obsession, political observers of the American campaign trail sent vet (together with vetting and vetted) to the #1 position on the Top Twenty list. We are still political animals. But as for the verb to vet, what's the animal connection, you ask? |