In 2018, the Oxford English Dictionary added words like beerfest, jumbotron, modder, antifa, binge-watch, and nothingburger, reflecting the awful, awful times we live in. But have you ever wondered what words officially entered our lexicon the year you were born? Probably not, but it turns out Merriam-Webster's Time Traveller tool is a fascinating archive of when certain technologies, trends, or pop-culture references came to be.
Pop culture plays a huge part in the process of transforming made up, nonsensical words into perfectly acceptable parts of the lexicon. Today, Merriam-Webster announced via Twitter that "embiggen" - a word that frequently pops up in Marvel's Ms Marvel series whenever Kamala Khan shapeshifts her body to make it larger - is one of the 850 new words most recently added to the dictionary.
David Harbour's Jim Hopper made a big impression on viewers after the Netflix series Stranger Things debuted, but season two kicked it up a notch. Harbour's Hopper dance was admired around the world and then some, and cemented him the coveted "dad bod" title. Now Merriam-Webster is making sure we know how to use it.
Merriam-Webster reported Sunday evening that "fascism" is currently the top look-up on its site. According to the dictionary, searches for "misogyny," "bigot," "xenophobe," "racism" and "xenophobia" also spiked after Tuesday's election. I wonder why.
