Word of the Month
I am a subscriber to the online version of the Marriam-Webster dictionary. At the end of every month they send me an email showing the top twenty list of English words that people looked up the most online. I also receive information on word histories, or on new words that have just made it into the dictionary, words like google, etc.
This month, the word history of the month is "socialism". With the government bailouts in the United States, there has been an increase in searches for the word. Americans, for the first time, were checking to make sure they know what 'socialism" means. Here is the information about the word I received in my monthly email:
"Political accusations about redistributing wealth helped to boost socialism to the #1 spot in October. Socialism first appeared in an English-language publication in 1837, a borrowing of the French word socialisme, applied to the theories espoused by Francois-Marie Charles Fourier, Claude-Henri Saint-Simon, and Richard Owen.
The dictionary points out that socialism can refer to any number of economic or political theories which advocate collective or governmental ownership and administration. It can also refer to Marx's idea that socialism was the intermediate point in a transition from a capitalist to a communist model of government.
"Socialism refers to a system of social organization in which private property and the distribution of income are subject to social control. Socialism also refers to the political movements aimed at putting that system into practice. So what does "social control" mean? Because it can mean a number of things, socialism has been applied to movements ranging from statist to libertarian systems and from Marxist to liberal designs."
So now here is the top twenty list of the most looked up words:
1.socialism
2.apathetic
3.cynical
4.pretentious
5.maverick
6.gorgeous
7.awkward
8.appreciate
9.quixotic
10.solace
11.albeit
12.hypocrite
13.whether
14.ambiguous
15.cantankerous
16.naïve
17.facetious
18.conundrum
19.pensive
20.tenacious
For the first time I don't see the word love on the list. People usually look up teh word "love" so frequently that it makes it to the list. Another word that used to appear a lot is "google". I guess while googling information, searchers felt they could get a kick out of googling "google".
New Word Watch
Merriam-Webster editors are giving the following words serious consideration for entry in a Merriam-Webster dictionary:
* acai also açai noun : a small dark purple fleshy berrylike fruit of a tall slender palm that is often used in beverages
* biodefense noun : means or methods of preventing an attack involving biological weapons
* fan fiction noun : stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the Internet
This month, the word history of the month is "socialism". With the government bailouts in the United States, there has been an increase in searches for the word. Americans, for the first time, were checking to make sure they know what 'socialism" means. Here is the information about the word I received in my monthly email:
"Political accusations about redistributing wealth helped to boost socialism to the #1 spot in October. Socialism first appeared in an English-language publication in 1837, a borrowing of the French word socialisme, applied to the theories espoused by Francois-Marie Charles Fourier, Claude-Henri Saint-Simon, and Richard Owen.
The dictionary points out that socialism can refer to any number of economic or political theories which advocate collective or governmental ownership and administration. It can also refer to Marx's idea that socialism was the intermediate point in a transition from a capitalist to a communist model of government.
"Socialism refers to a system of social organization in which private property and the distribution of income are subject to social control. Socialism also refers to the political movements aimed at putting that system into practice. So what does "social control" mean? Because it can mean a number of things, socialism has been applied to movements ranging from statist to libertarian systems and from Marxist to liberal designs."
So now here is the top twenty list of the most looked up words:
1.socialism
2.apathetic
3.cynical
4.pretentious
5.maverick
6.gorgeous
7.awkward
8.appreciate
9.quixotic
10.solace
11.albeit
12.hypocrite
13.whether
14.ambiguous
15.cantankerous
16.naïve
17.facetious
18.conundrum
19.pensive
20.tenacious
For the first time I don't see the word love on the list. People usually look up teh word "love" so frequently that it makes it to the list. Another word that used to appear a lot is "google". I guess while googling information, searchers felt they could get a kick out of googling "google".
New Word Watch
Merriam-Webster editors are giving the following words serious consideration for entry in a Merriam-Webster dictionary:
* acai also açai noun : a small dark purple fleshy berrylike fruit of a tall slender palm that is often used in beverages
* biodefense noun : means or methods of preventing an attack involving biological weapons
* fan fiction noun : stories involving popular fictional characters that are written by fans and often posted on the Internet
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