May 2006

April TOP TWENTY

Three longtime list stalwarts fell off the list this month—pandemic, contempt, and filibuster. The events that prompt look-ups of these words are none too pleasant, so we don't regret their passing. In their place, we welcome some returning words—esoteric and conundrum—and a new one, a conundrum in itself, aloof.

To see April's full list and our musing on aloof, click here.

  1. effect
  2. affect
  3. integrity
  4. love
  5. metaphor
  6. ubiquitous
  7. dichotomy
  8. agnostic
  9. inept
  10. irony
 
  1. empathy
  2. ambiguous
  3. ensure
  4. facetious
  5. aloof
  6. paradigm
  7. gregarious
  8. insipid
  9. esoteric
  10. conundrum

Here is the strange case of aloof. It ranked in the 30s and 40s during December and January, was in the 20s in February and March, and moved into the Top Twenty last month. Frankly, we don't know why. It tends to be looked up most frequently on Mondays; April 24th was its biggest single day; and it's still going strong in May.

Aloof has been showing up frequently in news stories. It has been used to describe, in no particular order, John Kerry (mostly in reviews of Joe Klein's new book, Politics Lost), suspended Miami Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Jeffrey Skilling, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, George Bush, the king of Nepal, Barry Bonds, Hu Jintao, and Queen Elizabeth. None of these uses, however, seems sufficient to push a word to the number 15 spot.

So we ask you. Why are people looking up aloof? Send your ideas to comments@word.com, and we'll post them here next month.


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