Tag Archives: category-wordtrends

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   How The George Floyd Protests Have Powerfully Changed Search Trends on Dictionary.com

   The protests against racism and police brutality, spurred by George Floyd—a Black man who was killed after a white police officer, Derek Chauvin, kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes—have expanded in size and scope across the entire world. The protests have, in turn, spurred the beginnings of everything from deep, uncomfortable reflections to institutional change and reform. And Dictionary.com has seen significant search …

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   Canceled vs. Cancelled: Which Is Spelled Correctly?

   by John Kelly, Senior Research Editor at Dictionary.com From March Madness and SXSW to birthday parties and spring break vacations, many gatherings, big and small, have been canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak around the world. … or is it cancelled? Now, spelling may seem like the least of our worries during these trying and unusual times, but many people are curious and still want …

3. 

   Words That Totally Look Like English—But Aren’t

   Since English is a major lingua franca, languages around the world import English loanwords. Sometimes other languages give completely new meanings to words that look like English yet they aren’t ever used by English-speakers.

4. 

   Why Do We Use Symbols To Censor Swearwords?

   When the force of a swearword is too extreme (but some form of cuss must be used) symbolic stand-ins have long been used for lewdness. Suffice it to say, any emotional keyboard-striker can blurt out something that people perceive as a sub for swears. Whether it’s to diminish the force of swear, to get around censorship rules, or maybe just because symbols are @#$%ing cool to look at, …

5. 

   “She Sheds” And Other Words That We Made Unnecessarily Feminine

   Gendered language isn’t anything new. The English language has repeatedly identified people as male or female through titles and other descriptive words. Think waiter/waitress, policeman/policewoman, and so on. Fortunately, many of these words have been replaced by  gender-neutral terms (server and police officer), but at the same time, some of the latest neologisms assign gender to terms that were previously neutral .  We’re talking about terms …

6. 

   “Mistress” And Other Words That Only Apply To Women

   It takes two people to have an affair. Despite this fact, there is a clear disparity in the way the public generally discusses extramarital relationships. Heterosexual men who have affairs are just heterosexual men who had affairs. But, the women with whom they have those affairs quickly get labeled with another term, one for which there is no effective male equivalent in English: mistress. As …

7. 

   5 More Pandemic Words & Phrases People Want To Stop Hearing

   As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, so too does the repetitive language people are using to talk about it. After a while, it gets exhausting hearing the same words over and over again in every article, tweet, and news broadcast. A few weeks ago, we rounded up the overused pandemic words and phrases our Twitter followers told us they were absolutely tired of hearing. The list …

8. 

   What Does “Burnout” Mean?

   by Ashley Austrew Most of us are familiar with the concept of being burned out. It’s that feeling you get when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, and simply don’t have any more energy to devote to a given task, activity … or career. Traditionally, the word burnout has been used more as a self-diagnosis or casual expression rather than treated as a medical syndrome or mental health …

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   Beyond Sad, Mad, and Glad: Words For Grown-Up Emotions
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    Recession vs. Depression: What Is The Difference?

    by John Kelly, Senior Research Editor at Dictionary.com Economics—as if understanding its facts and figures, number and statistics, and charts and graphs isn’t challenging enough. Economics also relies on some tough terms. No, we don’t just mean the more advanced argot of arbitrage or leveraged buyout. Even more familiar economic terms many of us encounter in the news (or, more frighteningly, feel in our pocketbooks), …

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    “Meat” Used To Mean “Food” And Other Meanings That Narrowed Over Time
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    Why Do We Say “Rabbit Rabbit” Each New Month?

    Ever heard someone say “rabbit rabbit,” but there’s not a floppy-eared bunny to be found for miles? There’s a reason they’re saying it … and that reason may even convince you to start saying it too, if you haven’t already. Keep reading to find out why this saying may be your next morning mantra. What does rabbit rabbit mean? Though it sounds a bit like gibberish, …