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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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play peter_talk_about_word_of_the_year_2016
2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

 

How we chose 'surreal'

play peter-sokolowski-indict-graphic
Video: Why is there a 'c' in 'indict'?

 

And who put it there, anyway?

play contractions
On Contractions of Multiple Words

 

You all would not have guessed some of these

play further vs farther video
Further vs. Farther

 

They started as same word, but their meanings have drifted apart over time.

play sneaked vs snuck video
Sneaked vs. Snuck

 

How the irregular 'snuck' sneaked into the dictionary

play serial comma
The Serial Comma Explained

 

Why don't they call it the Merriam-Webster comma?

play mrs malaprop
What is a malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

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