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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, political observers of the American campaign trail sent vet (together with vetting and vetted) to the #1 position on the Top Twenty list, as interest in the surprise nomination of Gov. Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket became a national obsession. We are still political animals. But as for the verb to vet, what's the animal connection, you ask? January 2009Word in the NewsMuch to our surprise, Bernard Madoff's sudden notoriety did not push Ponzi scheme to the top of any of our dictionary look-up lists. Madoff is the alleged 21st-century swindler whose $50 billion dollar scam is said to be an example of a Ponzi scheme, a term derived from the name of a 20th-century swindler. February 2009Words in the NewsLast month we talked about the history of inaugurate; that verb and its related forms were the most-looked-up words on Inauguration Day, January 20. On that day there were other Inauguration-inspired look-ups, including invocation and benediction. What's the difference between those two? March 2009Words in the NewsAlthough it didn't break into the Top Twenty, furlough (a synonym of layoff) did get a record number of look-ups last month, as 650,000 Americans lost their jobs. Permit us to explain the connection. May 2009Words in the NewsIn the summer of 2006, President Bush's use of the word fascist when describing terrorists sent folks looking up that word's meaning in our online dictionary. This month, conservative commentators described President Obama's policies as economic fascism, and again look-ups of the word soared. We turn to another reference to reveal modern applications of fascism and also to pass along a tidbit about the coinage of the related term totalitarianism. September 2009Words in the NewsMichael Jackson's death held the attention of many people for days and weeks this summer. Seeing the pattern of words looked up following such a news event can be a fascinating way to study the intersection of news and vocabulary. Which words are looked up first? Which are looked up most? Are they looked up for spelling or meaning? October 2009Words in the NewsRep. Joe Wilson's shout of "you lie!" during President Obama's address to Congress sparked plenty of discussion. The House formally rebuked the congressman for his actions, and the word admonish rose to #1 for the month. What's the distinction between admonish and rebuke (which ended up in the top 100 for the month)? November 2009Words in the NewsNews about former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's upcoming book Going Rogue boosted rogue to #16 on last month's Top Twenty. But do we know where the word rogue comes from? Not really. Appropriately enough, in terms of poetic justice, the origin of rogue remains uncertain. January 2010Words in the NewsAfter President Obama declared Congress was "on the precipice" of passing legislation to reform the nation's health care, the term precipice teetered at 90th place on last month's Most Looked Up List. The 17th century coinage precipice comes from the Latin word for headlong (prae means before and caput means head). The original (now obsolete) meaning of precipice named a "sudden or headlong fall." March 2010Words in the NewsPresident Obama's declaration that he considers himself "agnostic" about various proposals targeting the federal deficit boosted agnostic to Number 12 last month. We've talked before about the history of the perennially looked-up agnostic, but the president wasn't using the word in its original, 19th century religious sense. April 2010Words in the NewsSocialism was in the Top Twenty yet again (for the third time since the November 2008 election), but since we've covered that term before, we'll look at two other terms that tickled Online Dictionary users for a day or two last month: titivate and titillate. When Dancing with the Stars judge Len Goodman approvingly asked contestant Pamela Anderson if she'd been titivating herself, both titivate and the more common titillate briefly soared on the look-up scorecard. June 2010Words in the NewsWeeks of media coverage of Europe's economic crisis made austere and austerity, taken together, the most looked-up terms for May. What's the story of these terms? Since the late Middle Ages, austerity has been the term of choice for enforced or extreme economy, especially when such economy is on a national scale. Austerity and austere derive from a Greek term meaning "making the tongue dry and rough," which became less literal and more figurative in English, coming to mean "harsh or severe." Austerity certainly does leave one in parched, rather than luxurious, conditions. September 2010Words in the NewsSarah Palin sent this message out on Twitter on July 18: "Ground Zero mosque supporters: doesn't it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate." This sent refudiate to the top of the Top Twenty for the summer. Why the buzz? For starters, refudiate is not (yet) in the dictionary. Then there was the controversy over subsequent tweets from Gov. Palin, first changing refudiate to repudiate, and then defending her coinage, invoking Shakespeare: "English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!" Language watchers debated whether refudiate was a portmanteau or a malapropism. The blend is easy to figure out (refute or refuse + repudiate). But what's the story on malapropism? October 2010Words in the NewsPope Benedict XVI warned against "aggressive forms of secularism" during last month's visit to the UK, and interest in the word secular soared. Since the 14th century, secular has been used to characterize something by an absence: secular is not overtly or specifically religious, not ecclesiastical or clerical, not sacred, not bound by monastic ties. Secular contrasts with religious, a term believed to have its origin in a Latin verb meaning "to tie fast," "to tie up," or "to tie back." November 2010Words in the NewsAlthough it didn't make it onto last month's Top Twenty list, lookups for animus spiked after Jon Stewart addressed the crowd at his Rally to Restore Sanity with these words: "We live in hard times, not end times. We can have animus but not be enemies." Stewart's message was rich in assonance and sibilance, and he was clearly seeking to use parallel rhetoric to emphasize the juxtaposition of opposing ideas – but was animus really the word he was looking for? January 2011Words in the NewsOn December 7, President Obama gave a news conference to discuss the tax bill that, in the view of some liberals, represented a compromise with Republican lawmakers. In response to those complaints from the left, the president criticized progressives who take a "purist position" that permits them to feel "sanctimonious" without working towards consensus. As a result, sanctimonious made it to #20 on the Look-Up List for the month. March 2011Words in the NewsThe Supreme Court of the United States followed precedent when that judicial body again turned to Webster's Third New International (the Unabridged) to parse the term personal as part of the FCC v AT&T decision. The March 1 decision included a refutation of what the Third Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals had dubbed "the grammatical imperative" that "a statute which defines a noun has thereby defined the adjectival form of that noun." April 2011Words in the News: insidiousThe horror movie Insidious only ranked third at the box office for its opening weekend, but the word used as its title topped the word charts for March. The film itself features, as so many supernatural thrillers do, creeping horror and dawning realizations of evil. In other words, Insidious works insidiously. Here's the inside story on insidious: the word is directly derived from the Latin adjective insidiosus means "insidious" or "cunning," which in turn comes from insidiae, meaning "ambush." Insidiae itself has its origin in the verb insidere, meaning "to sit within" – a vivid description of how an ambush works. Insidious has a meaning that is specifically medical, indicating a condition that develops so gradually that it is well established before becoming apparent – an extension of the word's use to mean "subtle" or "gradual." When used to describe an action or motivation, insidious means carefully masked underhandedness that may be seductive or treacherous. Ambush, indeed. June 2011Words in the News: hegemonyThe death of Osama bin Laden was the big news story of the month. One of the words used in news coverage of bin Laden's death was hegemony – and it came close to dominating the lookup list for a few days. Press reports referred to his followers' belief that the terrorist was considered a leader in fighting American hegemony. The word has historically referred specifically to the political, military, or economic dominance of one country or region over others. October 2011Words in the News: curmudgeonThe final "60 Minutes" appearance by longtime commentator Andy Rooney was broadcast on October 2. News of Rooney's retirement caused many to look up curmudgeon for a few days before and after the broadcast. The definition of curmudgeon is "a crusty, ill-tempered, and usually old man." Retiring at the age of 92, Andy Rooney is best known for his humorous essays about his own resistance to change as well as opinions about subjects large and small. In actual usage, the term curmudgeon is often applied affectionately to refer to someone who has earned the right to have strong opinions. Having a strong opinion about the origins of the word curmudgeon is another question entirely: the dictionary lists its etymology as "origin unknown." November 2011Words in the News: cultAfter a pastor backing Rick Perry denounced Mitt Romney's Mormon religion as a cult, that word rose to number seventeen in online lookups last month. This use of cult was clearly understood to be disparaging, but, in fact, the words religion, worship, and cult have overlapping senses. January 2012Words in the News: pragmaticYear's end brings discussion of various Words of the Year, including the announcement of the most looked-up word from the past year at Merriam-Webster.com: pragmatic. Last year's #2 word earned this year's top spot as people looked up pragmatic during last summer's debt negotiations in Congress and again in late autumn, during the failed mission of the Congressional "supercommittee." Both NPR and Politico filed stories explaining the politics behind the term; Merriam-Webster reported on the background of how pragmatic came to earn top spot. The word was among the most looked-up words on a day-to-day basis last year, but significant spikes of interest surrounding these news stories pushed it over the top. |