by Molly Rosen Marriner It’s another installment of Last Month in Pop Language, a column where the most popular (statistically) song, book, and film of the month will have their words analyzed in hopes of drawing a conclusion about language’s current usage—and future. At the end of each monthly column, we’ll draw a conclusion: Was last month’s pop language masterly, malevolent, or merely meh? Film: Ant-Man and the Wasp …
LeBron James was as excited as a kid on Christmas Eve and so were football fans. So, what effect did that have on the Dictionary.com trending words of July 27th–August 3rd, 2018? Let’s take a look! Inviolability An announcement by Pope Francis sent one word soaring 441% this week: inviolability. The pontiff issued a statement condemning the use of the death penalty, “because it is …
From Final Jeopardy to toothbrushes made from panda’s favorite snack, the trending words on Dictionary.com took us all around the world and back again during the week of July 20–27, 2018. Get ready, get set, go word-crazy! Outercourse An attempt by Brock Turner’s lawyer to have his sexual assault conviction overturned—based on a claim that Turner only intended to have outercourse with his victim—sent hundreds …
From Fortnite to Tyler, the Creator, there were plenty of reasons to learn new words this week, July 13–20, 2018. So let’s dive in, shall we? The Circle Game It’s a game teenagers play every day, but searches for the circle game rose 1,094% for a decidedly more troubling reason this week. Four officers in the Jasper (Alabama) Police Department were suspended for making hand …
By Jane Solomon While some people might view emoji as silly little characters, that’s not how we see it. There’s a sophisticated linguistic system in the way people use emoji, and that’s something we take very seriously at Dictionary.com. Emoji are a very real way people are communicating, and who better to think deeply about emoji than a reference source that investigates meaning? In 2018, …
Kylie Jenner. The Bachelorette. Wiz Khalifa. The July 6–13, 2018 edition of trending words is absolutely star-studded. So let’s dive in! Self-made Is Kylie Jenner a self-made billionaire? That’s how Forbes labelled her this week, and it left plenty of folks curious about just what it means to be self-made. How curious? Searches rose 864,100% on Wednesday! The answer to the query, of course, is …
by Molly Rosen MarrinerThis is our fourth installment of Last Month in Pop Language, a column where the most popular (statistically) song, book, and film of the month will have their words analyzed in hopes of drawing a conclusion about language’s current usage—and future. At the end of each monthly column, we’ll draw a conclusion: Was last month’s pop language masterly, malevolent, or merely meh?————- Movie: The Incredibles 2 …
We pored over the data this week of June 29–July 6, 2018, and we got a good look at what words you learned from the news. Whether it was a presidential grammar mistake or an HBO show host’s foray into teen speak, here’s what made folks curious. Ontogeny and phylogeny Paris Hilton tried to stump the internet this week, asking Twitter users to tell her …
There were plenty of calls for civility the week of June 22–29, 2018, but do folks really know what it means? The word was one of the top trending searches on Dictionary.com, but it was far from the only term to spark interest! Eighty-six The ouster of Press Secretary Sarah Sanders from the Red Hen, an eatery in Lexington, Virginia boosted searches for the meaning …
From families being separated at the border, to a prominent Republican jumping ship from his party, to Beyonce and Jay-Z dropping new music, take a look at how the news affected searches on Dictionary.com the week of June 15–22, 2018. Concentration camp, illegal alien, cage, la familia, tender age Debates over the separation of children from their parents at the US border have dominated headlines …
Whether it’s CNN host Jake Tapper tweeting or Canadian officials making statements to the press, the news tends to make an impact on what people search in the dictionary. Here’s a peek at the words that had folks guessing the week of June 8–15, 2018! Ad hominem Tensions between the United States and our northern neighbor, Canada, are at an all-time high this week, with …