On May 3, a sheriff’s investigator at the Michael Jackson trial testified that Jackson’s ex-wife Deborah Rowe had said in an earlier interview that Jackson was a sociopath. That testimony sent sociopath to the top of the list for two days, and significant interest in the word persisted for nearly two weeks, putting sociopath in the No. 22 spot for the month.

Filibuster wasn’t the only word coming out of Washington that caught people’s attention last month. Cloture was of interest on a few days, but dilatory was even stronger, rising to the No. 5 spot on May 24 and ending the month at No. 70. It means “tending or intended to cause delay,” as in “dilatory tactics.”

And then there was sith. Star Wars: Episode III-Revenge of the Sith didn’t open until May 19, but people were trying to look up the word in the dictionary in significant numbers as early as May 12. On the weekend the movie was released, sith was the third most looked-up word, and on the Sunday of the weekend, it was the No. 1 word. You won't find this use of sith in any dictionary just yet, but sith does almost sound like English. Too see why, check out Just Foolin’ Around in this issue.