It was an ordinary day. The results of the 2024 U.S. Presidential election rattled the country and sent shock waves across the world - or were cause for celebration, depending on who you ask. Is it any surprise then that the Merriam-Webster word of the year is "polarization"? "Polarization means division, but it's a very specific kind of division," said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. "Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center." The election was so divisive, many American voters went to the polls with a feeling that the opposing candidate was an existential threat to the nation. According to the AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters, about 8 in 10 Kamala Harris voters were very or somewhat concerned that Donald Trump's views - but not Harris' - were too extreme, while about 7 in 10 Trump voters felt the same way about Harris - but not Trump. The Marrian-Webster entry for "Polarization" reflects scientific and metaphorical definitions. It's most commonly used to mean "causing strong disagreement between opposing factions or groupings." Merriam-Webster, which logs 100 million page views a month on its site, closes its word of the year based on data, tracking a rise in search and usage. Last year's pick was "authentic." This year's comes as large swaths off the U.S struggle to reach consensus on what is real. "It's always been important to me that the dictionary serve as a kind of neutral and objective arbiter of meaning for everybody," Sokolowski said. "It's a kind of backstop for meaning in an era of fake news, alternative facts, whatever you want to say about the value of a word's meaning in the culture." "Polarization" extends beyond political connotations. It's used to highlight fresh cracks and deep rifts alike in pop culture, tech trends and other industries. All the scrutiny over Taylor Swift's private jet usage? Polarizing. Beef between rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake? Polarizing. The International Olympic Committee's decision to strip American gymnast Jordan Chjiles of her bronze medal after the Paris Games? You guessed it.....polarizing. Other top words were "demure," "fortnight," "totality," "resonate," "allusion," "weird," "cognitive," " pander" and - consistently one of the most looked up since it was the first word of the year in 2003 - "democracy." It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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Nice post.
ReplyDeleteMr Ordinary,
ReplyDeleteI’m taking the liberty to add an extra to your self description and rename you Mr. extraordinary! My name is Victoria Lafean Cieri and I was born into the Lafean family who owned American Caramel and purchased the Milton Hershey Lancaster Caramel Company. All my life, I have been searching for information about my family history. The details about my family are limited and differ greatly. Before I leave this esrth I would like to learn more about the family blood line and get a sense of their lives and whi they were as people. I was told there was some sort of incident between Lafean relatives that caused a huge divide between family members and there are no Lafeans in possession of any family memorabilia written or photographed documents. It seems to have gotten lost and probably disbursed through auctions and the like to the public. I do not have any desire to try and take ownership of anything, I simply eould like to see some pictures of that which is out there. My biggest desire, however, is to gather the stories that other people with knowledge can share to help me discover and get a sense of those who came before me and are part of my DNA. I have a daughter and sisters with children that I would like to pass down some Lafean family legacy to live on! If you are willing please contact me at askauntiecorn@gmail.com
Looking forward to “an extraordinary” encounter!