Wednesday, November 16, 2016

Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year : "Post-Truth”

For its Word of the Year 2016, Oxford Dictionaries has selected "post-truth.", an adjective defined as ‘relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief’:
"The concept of post-truth has been simmering for the past decade, but Oxford shows the word spiking in frequency this year in the context of the Brexit referendum in the UK and the presidential election in the US, and becoming associated overwhelmingly with a particular noun, in the phrase post-truth politics."
Runners-up for the word of the year in 2016 included:
  • adulting, n. [mass noun] informal the practice of behaving in a way characteristic of a responsible adult, especially the accomplishment of mundane but necessary tasks.
  • alt-right, n. (in the US) an ideological grouping associated with extreme conservative or reactionary viewpoints, characterized by a rejection of mainstream politics and by the use of online media to disseminate deliberately controversial content. 
  • Brexiteer, n. British informal a person who is in favour of the United Kingdom withdrawing from the European Union.
  • chatbot, n. a computer program designed to simulate conversation with human users, especially over the Internet.
  • coulrophobia, n. [mass noun] rare extreme or irrational fear of clowns.
  • glass cliff,  n. used with reference to a situation in which a woman or member of a minority group ascends to a leadership position in challenging circumstances where the risk of failure is high.
  • hygge, n. [mass noun] a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being (regarded as a defining characteristic of Danish culture):
  • Latinx, n. (plural Latinxs or same) and adj. a person of Latin American origin or descent (used as a gender-neutral or non-binary alternative to Latino or Latina); relating to people of Latin American origin or descent (used as a gender-neutral or non-binary alternative to Latino or Latina).
  • woke, adj. (woker, wokest) US informal alert to injustice in society, especially racism.

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posted by Michel-Adrien at 6:29 pm

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