What Is Your Word of the Year?
2022-11-30
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1And now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.
2English language dictionary publishers traditionally announce their words of the year as the year is coming to a close.
3Sometimes, they choose words based on how many times people look them up. Others select words that have been in the news a lot.
4This week, American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster announced that it selected "gaslighting" as its word of the year for 2022.
5Merriam-Webster defines gaslighting as "the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for one's own advantage."
6In 2022, lookups for gaslighting on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740 percent over the year before.
7Peter Sokolowski is Merriam-Webster's editor at large.
8He told the Associated Press, "It's a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us."
9Merriam-Webster said English has many ways to say "lies," including falsehood, untruth, and disinformation.
10But in this age of misinformation with fake news, deepfakes and artificial intelligence, the word "gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time."
11Other lookups on Merriam-Webster included oligarch, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Omicron, a fast-spreading version of the COVID-19 virus, and Queen Consort, as the wife of Britain's King Charles, Camilla, is now known.
12Now, if a British English dictionary publisher says it has chosen an American English word as its word of the year, you would likely say someone is gaslighting you.
13But that is exactly what happened.
14In November, Cambridge Dictionary announced that its word of the year for 2022 is... homer. Cambridge says homer, short for homerun, "is a point scored in baseball when you hit the ball, usually out of the playing field, and are able to run around all the bases at one time to the starting base."
15Why homer, you ask?
16Cambridge said there were 65,000 searches for the word homer in a single day.
17It was May 5. That was the day when homer was the winning word on the popular online game Wordle.
18The British publisher said many Wordle players outside of the United States had not heard this word before.
19Some expressed their frustration on social media, but many more turned to Cambridge to find its meaning.
20The popularity of Wordle also brought searches for other five-letter words, including caulk, tacit, humor, and bayou.
21So, now you know that we are not gaslighting you!
22Another publisher, Collins, said 2022 seems to be a year of permanent crisis with the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the worldwide economic downturn.
23So, Collins selected permacrisis as the word of the year for 2022.
24The dictionary defines the word as "an extended period of instability and insecurity."
25Collins said the year also gave us terms like quiet quitting, which involves doing no more work than necessary, and sportswashing, which people are accusing Qatar and Saudi Arabia are doing with the World Cup and LIV golf.
26The editors of the Oxford dictionary said 2022 has been a year defined by re-opening after the pandemic.
27"However, although we have finally been able to physically reunite and come together again, our world somehow feels more divided than ever."
28Oxford said the use of metaverse increased four times in October as people are debating the future of online activities.
29The word describes a new level of online experiences for socializing, learning, and playing.
30From the war in Ukraine to the legal action between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, people used #IStandWith on social media to express their support.
31And goblin mode is the idea of rejecting societal expectations in favor of doing whatever one wants to.
32So, Oxford decided to leave the selection of word of the year to you.
33Until Friday, December 2, you can vote for your favorite word as Oxford's word of the year 2022.
34The choices include metaverse, #IStandwith, and goblin mode.
35I'm Anna Matteo.
1And now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English. 2English language dictionary publishers traditionally announce their words of the year as the year is coming to a close. Sometimes, they choose words based on how many times people look them up. Others select words that have been in the news a lot. 3Merriam-Webster dictionary 4This week, American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster announced that it selected "gaslighting" as its word of the year for 2022. 5Merriam-Webster defines gaslighting as "the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for one's own advantage." 6In 2022, lookups for gaslighting on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740 percent over the year before. Peter Sokolowski is Merriam-Webster's editor at large. He told the Associated Press, "It's a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us." 7Merriam-Webster said English has many ways to say "lies," including falsehood, untruth, and disinformation. But in this age of misinformation with fake news, deepfakes and artificial intelligence, the word "gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time." 8Other lookups on Merriam-Webster included oligarch, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Omicron, a fast-spreading version of the COVID-19 virus, and Queen Consort, as the wife of Britain's King Charles, Camilla, is now known. 9Cambridge dictionary 10Now, if a British English dictionary publisher says it has chosen an American English word as its word of the year, you would likely say someone is gaslighting you. 11But that is exactly what happened. 12In November, Cambridge Dictionary announced that its word of the year for 2022 is... homer. Cambridge says homer, short for homerun, "is a point scored in baseball when you hit the ball, usually out of the playing field, and are able to run around all the bases at one time to the starting base." 13Why homer, you ask? 14Cambridge said there were 65,000 searches for the word homer in a single day. It was May 5. That was the day when homer was the winning word on the popular online game Wordle. 15The British publisher said many Wordle players outside of the United States had not heard this word before. Some expressed their frustration on social media, but many more turned to Cambridge to find its meaning. 16The popularity of Wordle also brought searches for other five-letter words, including caulk, tacit, humor, and bayou. 17So, now you know that we are not gaslighting you! 18Collins dictionary 19Another publisher, Collins, said 2022 seems to be a year of permanent crisis with the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the worldwide economic downturn. 20So, Collins selected permacrisis as the word of the year for 2022. The dictionary defines the word as "an extended period of instability and insecurity." 21Collins said the year also gave us terms like quiet quitting, which involves doing no more work than necessary, and sportswashing, which people are accusing Qatar and Saudi Arabia are doing with the World Cup and LIV golf. 22Oxford dictionary 23The editors of the Oxford dictionary said 2022 has been a year defined by re-opening after the pandemic. "However, although we have finally been able to physically reunite and come together again, our world somehow feels more divided than ever." 24Oxford said the use of metaverse increased four times in October as people are debating the future of online activities. The word describes a new level of online experiences for socializing, learning, and playing. 25From the war in Ukraine to the legal action between actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, people used #IStandWith on social media to express their support. And goblin mode is the idea of rejecting societal expectations in favor of doing whatever one wants to. 26So, Oxford decided to leave the selection of word of the year to you. 27Until Friday, December 2, you can vote for your favorite word as Oxford's word of the year 2022. The choices include metaverse, #IStandwith, and goblin mode. 28I'm Anna Matteo. 29Hai Do wrote this report for VOA Learning English with additional material from the Associated Press. 30__________________________________________________________________ 31Words in This Story 32advantage -n. something that helps a person do better or be more likely to succeed 33fake news -n. false or misleading information presented as news 34deep fake -n. a media image or picture that has been digitally changed and uses high technology to make something false look real 35artificial intelligence -n. the field of computer science that aims to give machines the ability to appear to have human intelligence 36frustration -n. the feeling of unhappiness from being unable to do what you want to do 37caulk -n. a material that fills cracks and holes that is used to keep out water 38tacit -adj. expressed or understood without being stated or spoken 39bayou -n. an area of water that is slow moving and has many plants growing in it 40_______________________________________________________________ 41We want to hear from you. 42We have a new comment system. 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