2016’s ‘word of the year’ is seriously depressing
Where is the love? The ‘Word of the Year’
is very concerning.
Dictionary.com has unveiled 2016’s ‘Word of the Year’.
Every year the online dictionary reveals the word that has been searched for the most online by its users.
This year’s winning word is ‘xenophobia’, which means “fear or hatred of foreigners, people from different cultures, or strangers”, according to Dictionary.com.
“This year, some of the most prominent news stories have centered around fear of the “other” ... this particular year saw fear rise to the surface of cultural discourse,” it said in a statement.
The biggest spike in searches on the site for the word ‘xenophobia’ occurred on June 24, with a 938% increase in searches recorded.
“That’s hundreds of users looking up the term each hour. This was the day after the UK voted to leave the European Union as the result of a much debated referendum, also known as Brexit,” the website said in a statement.
Searches for the term ‘hate crime’ also spiked in July following reports of incidents of prejudice following the Brexit vote.
“The British Home Office also reported a 41% increase in hate crimes the month following the EU referendum,” Dictionary.com added.
The 2016 US presidential race also saw searches for xenophobia surging.
President Barack Obama also used the word in June, prompting more searches from online users.
“On June 29, President Obama gave a speech in which he expressed concern over the use of the term populism to describe Donald Trump’s political rhetoric. Obama insisted that this was not an example of populism, but of ‘nativism or xenophobia’,” Dictionary.com stated.
Donald Trump’s call for Muslims to be banned from entering America, and his vow to build a wall to prevent illegal Mexicans from entering the country, caused an uproar.
The 2016 ‘Word of the Year’ has left many people hoping love replaces fear in 2017.
We second that!