The good folks at the world of words recently announced that "the word" in 2023 was "authentic." They provide an explanation that includes the admission that this is "A high-volume lookup most years." But it was the top lookup in 2023 (or at least the part of 2023 that preceded the selection). People are often interested in "authentic." But there was an additional "substantial increase in 2023," which the dictionary world attributes to the present "conversations about AI, celebrity culture, identity, and social media."
That is intriguing. That social media and celebrities could drive interest in a word like "authentic." There is a bit of irony there perhaps.
There is perhaps a certain rizz to the engagement of words. Though claiming to have rizz is also potentially a sound way to lack it; perhaps denying you have it is as sound a method of having it? Ask the actors who deny it. The program in which I compose these posts is insisting that I have misspelled "rizz" twice. That is curious, as it is in the dictionary. In fact, a different world of words named it "the word" for 2023, but that is an ocean away. How many worlds of words are there?
Each year, the word folks name "the word," and some believe that it is subject to lobbying. WPRI Providence reported that a manufacturer delivered an eight-foot-tall jar of mayonnaise to the world of words. They were advocating for "the word" of 2023 to be "moist." Apparently, the jar was a facade, and there was no mayonnaise harmed in the making of that plea. Coincidentally, this all happened around the annual turkey extravaganza and who doesn't put mayo on their leftover sandwich? Coincidence?
The world of words does not end there. They also decide what words go in the dictionary. And every time I see such a list I am reminded of the childhood taunt that "ain't ain't a word, because it ain't in the dictionary." Well, times change. This ain't your father's dictionary. The folks at the world of words notes:
"Although widely disapproved as nonstandard, and more common in the habitual speech of the less educated, ain't is flourishing in American English."
So, how we use what words is noticed. How often we search for a word on the Internet is noticed. In picking "the word," perhaps the fine judges are ignoring we old folks who might look up a word or two from time to time in a "book" like a dictionary or thesaurus? While many will doubt that is possible, I can assure you that it is not only possible but probable. Some of us still use pencils, pads, books, and the occasional phone book. Sure, fewer each year perhaps. But still.
Imagine a huge conspiracy we could hatch. Instead of an enormous mayonnaise facade what if we all just agreed on a word and googled it incessantly for the next twelve months? How intriguing would it be for the world of words to announce in 2024 that "the word" was something really out there like "Bumfuzzle," or "Nudiustertian," or "Pauciloquent." but we would have to all agree in advance. In the end, the odds are perhaps long against any such mass agreement.
