November 2006

October TOP TWENTY

Once again, the Top Twenty is made up almost entirely of old favorites, and the top spots are held by the same four heavy-hitters: effect, affect, integrity, and metaphor. After a brief absence, google rejoins the list, and with memories fading that Thailand ever had such a thing, coup slipped off the list. Here's the entire list, and a look back at last October's Top Twenty.

  1. effect
  2. affect
  3. integrity
  4. metaphor
  5. love
  6. google
  7. dichotomy
  8. irony
  9. ambiguous
  10. ubiquitous
 
  1. paradigm
  2. aloof
  3. egregious
  4. empathy
  5. aphorism
  6. melancholy
  7. superfluous
  8. agnostic
  9. pretentious
  10. awkward

Some may have forgotten, but this time last year, we were consumed with fears about an outbreak of avian flu, and the words pandemic (No.1) and epidemic (No. 4) headed the list. Instead of google, we were still fascinated with blog (No. 17). Other than that, words that have slipped off since last October are ensure, hubris, paradox, facetious, and esoteric; in their place we now have aloof, aphorism, melancholy, pretentious, and awkward.

History repeated itself in October as two of September's Top Twenty, hypothesis and culture, fell off the list, just as they did last October. We have observed that the presence of these two words on the list, along with hegemony and rhetoric, is a sure sign that school is back in session. But perhaps interest in these words can only last so long. In that regard, we note that love moved up three notches.


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