As we noted back in February, the word debauchery has been moving up the list for several months now, reaching the No. 15 spot in March. However, it was clearly the tragic events at Virginia Tech that boosted debauchery to its top spot this month. Reports about the note left behind by the gunman frequently referred to use of the words debauchery and charlatan, and both words were among the most looked up this month. The word diatribe was often used to describe the gunman's statements, and that word also appeared in the top twenty. Both charlatan and diatribe have interesting stories, which we review in this month's Word History of the Month.

Don Imus' comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team took the word nappy to the No. 2 spot and fueled interest in the word misogyny, which led to a long-standing question: Is there a word for hostility to males? We'll answer that in this month's In Case You Were Wondering feature.

One other interesting aspect to this month's list is that google finally gave up its top spot, after four straight months as the No. 1 most looked-up word, falling behind another traditional holder of the top spot, effect.

Three other longtime members of the list, paradigm, superfluous, and aloof, slipped off. Albeit showed up for the first time.