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Words of the Year

2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

Editor Peter Sokolowski talks about 'surreal' and the rest of our Word of the Year 2016 selections



How did we choose surreal as our Word of the Year for 2016? Peter Sokolowski explains the data behind our decisions, and what that tells us about what people were thinking this year.

Don't miss our in-depth look at surreal and our gallery of top trending words from 2016.

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And how did it get that name?

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Hopefully

 

We believe the popular usage of this word is correct

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Old-School Grammar

 

Many of today's grammar rules can be traced to the opinions of one 18th century writer.

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The Schwa

 

The most common vowel sound in English causes many spelling problems.

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How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.