Words at Play : Word of the Year Retrospective
Presidential campaigns dominate headlines during election years, and political words are usually top dictionary lookups in election years.
In 2012, socialism saw its largest lookup spikes during coverage of the proposed healthcare bill, but also saw peaks in the days following both conventions and each of the presidential debates. Capitalism, although looked up somewhat less often, rode the same waves of interest.
"It's fascinating to see how language from campaigns and debate speeches resonates with our users," says John M. Morse, President and Publisher at Merriam-Webster. "Many people turn to the dictionary to make sense of the rhetoric."
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