Top words of 2017 reflect troubled, divided society

It’s the time of year for listicles — clickbait- style articles listing the best and worst of 2017. Done well, they open a window into our collective experience, sifted through cultural filters such as the best in television, or trends in technological innovation.

Twitter analyses provide fascinating snapshots of 2017. The most- tweeted activism hashtags in the U. S. neatly sum up a divided society, with first and second place going to variations of # Resist and # MAGA, respectively.

Worldwide, the most “liked” tweet came from former president Barack Obama. “No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or religion,” he wrote, quoting Nelson Mandela, after the Charlottesville white supremacist march.

Perhaps there is no better lens through which to view the past 12 months than dictionaries’ choices for word of the year. In many ways, 2017 felt like an assault on language — from the uproar over terms better left out of Center for Disease Control budget documents, to ever- moredreadful portmanteaux like “listicle.”

Merriam- Webster’s choice for 2017 was “feminism.” The number of lookups on its website increased 70 per cent over 2016, it noted, surging after key events including the historic Women’s March on January 21.

The word also got a shout- out in February, after White House adviser

Kellyanne Conway labelled the

movement “anti- male and proabortion.” Merriam- Webster’s wordofthe- day tweet countered with a definition of feminism: “The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.”

The Twitter account has gently trolled the administration all year, never more poignantly than when Conway infamously characterized false statements as “alternative facts.” Merriam- Webster responded: “A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality.”

Collins Dictionary’s choice for word of the year was “fake news,” defined as “false, often sensational information disseminated under the guise of news reporting.” According to Collins, the term saw a 365 per cent increase in usage over 2016.

Falsified news stories emerged as a defining force in the 2016 presidential campaign, with $ 100,000 in social media ads traced to fake Russian Facebook accounts. Ironically it was CNN’s queries about his campaign’s possible links to Russia that spurred President Donald Trump to call CNN — and subsequently any unflattering coverage — “fake news.”

As its word of the year,

Dictionary. com chose “complicit.” Online searches for complicit spiked dramatically on April 5, after Ivanka Trump was asked on CBS This Morning about complicity in her father’s administration.

“If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit,” she said, inverting the meaning: “Choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having partnership or involvement in wrongdoing.”

Among its reasons for the choice, Dictionary. com also listed: backlash against tolerating sexual improprieties by powerful men; social media platforms used for electoral propaganda; climate denial at the Environmental Protection Agency; and President Trump’s “complicity with ideologies that promote hate.”

It’s noteworthy how many picks for word of the year have been dominated by American politics. The exception is Oxford Dictionary’s selection, “youthquake,” meaning “a significant cultural, political, or social change arising from the actions or influence of young people.”

Oxford Dictionaries president Casper Grathwohl called youthquake “a rare political word that sounds a hopeful note.”

In a year like 2017, hope itself is significant. write. robin@ baranyai. ca