We鈥檙e only a quarter of the way through 2019, but already we鈥檝e seen some significant trends in searches on 亚洲网紅露点. Politics, as ever, has propelled many of the lookups, but that’s not the only driver. Sneak peek: Top terms range from pad thai to deep space.
Here are the words setting the search trends through March 2019:
1. Exonerate
Our top lookup in early 2019 is听exonerate, “to听肠濒别补谤,听as of an听补肠肠耻蝉补迟颈辞苍;听蹿谤别别听蹿谤辞尘听驳耻颈濒迟听辞谤听blame.” The word comes from a Latin verb joining the prefix听ex-, “out of,” and听onus, “burden.” It originally meant “to relieve (someone) from a burden” in English.
Searches f辞谤听exonerate听surged 5, 182% in late March after Special Counsel Robert Mueller鈥攚ho had been investigating听Russia鈥檚 interference in the 2016 presidential election and its possible collusion with Donald Trump鈥檚 campaign鈥攔eleased his long-awaited findings to the Justice Department.
In his letter to Attorney General William Barr, 迟丑补迟听鈥渨hile this report does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him鈥� on the issue of obstruction of justice. Trump, however, came to his own conclusions:
No Collusion, No Obstruction, Complete and Total EXONERATION. KEEP AMERICA GREAT!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
Back on our end, interest in derived forms, such as exoneration, also spiked.
Top trends on today:
Exonerate
Exonerated
Exoneration— 亚洲网紅露点 (@Dictionarycom)
2. Ruthful
What is the opposite of ruthless? Our second most searched word up to this point.
In February, country artist Kacey Musgraves puzzled over an antonym for ruthless. We felt her pain, and tweeted to her ruthful, an obscure but perfectly serviceable word meaning 鈥渃ompassionate or sorrowful.鈥�
馃く
— K A C E Y M U S G R A V E S (@KaceyMusgraves)
Searches for ruthful hit a high note, climbing 2,334%. Ruthless and ruthful are both rooted in the noun ruth, 鈥減ity of compassion,鈥� a word Musgraves rightly observed principally survives in ruthless.
3. Self-made
Haven鈥檛 we been over this before? We have.
Self-made was our third biggest search trend in early 2019 after we provided the definition for the , which billed 21-year-old celebrity makeup mogul Kylie Jenner as 鈥渟et to be the youngest-ever self-made billionaire.鈥� (Note: That was back in 2018.)
Jenner did join the billionaire club in March 2019, but we still raised our lexical eyebrows (this time in 2019) at Forbes鈥檚 continued use of self-made when it .
She’s impressive, but is she exactly self-made, which we define as 鈥渉aving succeeded in life unaided鈥�? This tweet helped shoot up search interest of self-made 2,024%. Not quite a billion … but still up there.
Haven't we gone over this?
Self-made: Having succeeded in life unaided.
— 亚洲网紅露点 (@Dictionarycom)
4. Naked
We鈥檙e going to give you the naked truth: search interest for naked rose 1,159% in March, and we鈥檙e not entirely sure why. Perhaps viewers were interested if contestants on the reality TV show Naked and Afraid, , are actually naked, or 鈥渨ithout clothing or covering; nude.鈥� We’re pretty sure they’re definitely听afraid.
Naked and Afraid challenges two contestants to survive in the wilderness for three weeks, naked of clothes鈥攁nd supplies. This season has a pair confront the tundra of Alaska. We鈥檒l be keeping our clothes on, thank you very much.
5. Ultima Thule
Ultima Thule: It鈥檚 an unusual name for an unusual object, which appears to be why this term spiked in searches 1,023% in January.
Here’s what happened: On New Year鈥檚 Day, NASA鈥檚 space probe New Horizons flew by a rocky, snowman-shaped object some four billion miles from Earth.
This flattened, two-lobed celestial body is the , and it鈥檚 been aptly named Ultima Thule, after the Latin expression ultima Thule, or 鈥渢he highest degree attainable鈥� or 鈥渇arthest point.鈥� The ancient Greeks and Romans believed a region called Thule (associated today with such places as Norway) was the most northerly region of the world.
6. Vulva
Mansplain: 鈥渢o comment on or explain something to a woman in a condescending, overconfident, and often inaccurate or oversimplified manner.鈥�
Example: In February, a male Twitter user that a Guardian article about a photographer鈥檚 portraits of vulvas should have been actually been using the word vagina.
Nobody was having it鈥攂ut search interest in vulva was with lookups rising 817% for the word. Vulva refers to 鈥渢he external female genitalia,鈥� precisely the subject of the photography series featured by the Guardian.
Well. Actually.
— 亚洲网紅露点 (@Dictionarycom)
7. Momo
We wish you were researching momo, “a type of dumpling” in South Asian cuisine. But, we鈥檙e pretty sure you were looking for the truth about the Momo Challenge, an internet hoax that went viral in 2018鈥�19.
The Momo Challenge involves a grotesque character鈥攏icknamed Momo,听taken from a disturbing Japanese work of art called Mother Bird鈥攚ho, falsely, is said to contact children on cell phones or online, compelling them to commit violent acts, including suicide. While the challenge is fake, lookups for it were very real, up 751% in March.
8. Furlough
January 2019 saw the longest partial government shutdown in US history, with about as the Trump administration and Congress disputed funding for the construction of a border wall.
January 2019 also saw a 684% growth in searches for furlough, in this context meaning 鈥渁 temporary layoff from work鈥� as well as the action of so doing. This definition, alas, does not account for the other 420,000 workers who had to show up to work during the shutdown鈥攚ithout pay.
9. Bandersnatch
We鈥檙e not making this one up. Lewis Carroll did in his 1871 novel Through the Looking-Glass, where the frumious Bandersnatch is 鈥渁n imaginary wild animal of fierce disposition.鈥�
The word trended up 633% in January after Netflix released the choose-your-own-adventure film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, in which the protagonist works to adapt a fictional novel called Bandersnatch into a video game. We鈥檒l see if Netflix follows up with Black Mirror: Jabberwocky.
10. Gesticulate
We couldn鈥檛 help but gesticulate鈥攖hat is, 鈥渢o make or use gestures, especially in an animated or excited manner with or instead of speech”鈥攚hen we saw that this word was up 537% this March.
We published a video about gesticulation that month, which prompted the Twitter account of Netflix鈥檚 variety show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj to remind us that its host can barely communicate without 驳别蝉迟颈肠耻濒补迟颈苍驳听too.
It's the only way can get his points across.
— Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj (@patriotact)
Bonus: pad thai
We just couldn’t resist highlighting this surprising trend in our data:听pad thai,听a “Thai dish of stir-fried rice noodles, fish sauce and other seasonings, usually tofu, shrimp, bean sprouts, and peanuts.鈥�
Searches for pad thai听went up by a generous portion of 318% in January for this term.听Fun fact: The pad in the delicious dish鈥檚 name refers to 鈥渟tir-fry鈥� in the Thai language.
Turns out people weren鈥檛 just hungry when they were looking this one up. It seems they were actually curious about a lyric from pop star on which she sings: 鈥淪taying up all night, order me pad thai.鈥� The track was released as as single in December 2018 ahead of her hit album, Thank U, Next, the following February.
Honorable mentions
Other notable trends in the first quarter of 2019 were prompted, like exonerate and furlough, by politics. Here are five terms that increased in searches by an average of about 240%, to round out this quarterly roundup:
- Trope:听Two rising stars of the Democratic party, Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar and New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have not only been driving news stories in 2019, they鈥檝e also been driving lookups of trope on 亚洲网紅露点. Omar was accused of using in remarks in February, while Ocasio-Cortez blasted colleagues who criticized Omar for their own .
- A trope is a 鈥渇igure of speech,鈥� here referring to a kind of recurring theme or image in culture.
- Confidence man:听Donald Trump鈥檚 former personal lawyer Michael Cohen sent many searching after he said of Trump : 鈥淗e is a racist. He is a con man. He is a cheat.鈥�
- Confidence man may be better known in its short form, con man. It鈥檚 鈥渁 person who swindles others by means of a confidence game; swindler.鈥�
- Intransigence:听Intransigence trended after Trump used the term to during the 2018鈥�19 shutdown.
- It means 鈥渞efusing to compromise or agree; inflexibility.鈥�
- Anticlimactic:听After 听in January the Mueller Report would be 鈥渁nti-climactic,鈥� lookups for anticlimactic ascended on 亚洲网紅露点, of course.
- Anticlimactic characterizes something as 鈥渇ar less important, powerful, or striking than expected.鈥�
- Socialism:听Debates about what is, and isn鈥檛, socialism have been heated in 2019, thanks especially to congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who identifies as a .听Searches for socialism have also been heated as a result鈥攁nd we expect that to continue as the rest of 2019 unfolds.
- Socialism is “a听theory听辞谤听system听of听social organization听迟丑补迟听advocates听the听vesting听of听the听ownership听and听control听of听the听means听of听production听and听distribution,听of听capital,听land,听etc.,听in听the听community听as a听whole.”听
