Many people used “communication” and “rapport” on their resumes and want to be sure they know what they mean. “Niche” gets a lot of hits because people want to pronounce it right.
SPRINGFIELD - Climate change. Intelligent design. Malcolm Gladwell.
You think you know “science”? You don’t know “science.”
A whole lot of people were at the very least unsure about the nuances of the word to look it up, according to Merriam-Webster, which is why the dictionary company announced that “science” is its word of the year Tuesday. It beat “cognitive,” “rapport” and “niche” for first place. While “science” is perhaps the antithesis of sexy, it seems downright bold compared with the Oxford English Dictionary’s winner: “selfie.”
Peter Sokolowski, an editor-at-large at Merrian-Webster, said the company used a scientific method to come up with “science,” tracking the number of hits on its online dictionary and app. Although “science” was not the most researched word, it showed the greatest jump in searches, 176 percent over last year.
“We have a nice old tradition of giving a quantum report of what Americans are looking up in the dictionary,” Sokolowski said. “We’re a sort of public utility. That gives us the responsibility to report back on how a word is used.”
Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary gets approximately 100 million hits per month, according to Sokolowski.
In past years, words like “bailout” and “blog” took ascendancy because they spoke to the zeitgeist, or spirit of the age, Sokolowski said.
“Sometimes we get a single word that jumps out from the pack,” he said. “This year there was no single word.”
Sokolowski attributed the interest in “science” to a range of public debates that have turned into news stories, such as climate change and faith versus science. A new book by Gladwell, “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants,” also sparked discussion because Gladwell uses science to support his arguments, Sokolowski said.
“Most people say ‘That’s stupid. Shouldn’t they know what it means?’” he said of “science.” “But people are verifying. As adults we look up words to begin the process of contemplation.”
One such word, Sokolowski said, is “love.” “Marriage” was hot for a while but has seen a decrease in interest in the last year or two. Merriam-Webster can track why users are researching words through a box on its web page, which is why Sokolowski knows that “cognitive” received interest because the word has been used in discussions of football brain injuries. Many people used “communication” and “rapport” on their resumes and want to be sure they know what they mean. “Niche” gets a lot of hits because people want to pronounce it right.
“Selfie,” for the record, refers to self-portraits that people take on their smartphones. John McCarthy, a professor of linguistics at the University of Massachusetts, deemed “selfie” and “science” both interesting choices but declined to choose between them. He did agree that public debates involving science have probably driven people to look the word up. McCarthy said a lot of trendy new words use suffixes like “-gate” and -geddon.”
“There’s an awful lot that comes and goes,” he said, putting “bling” in the latter category.
At least one scientist is glad to see the public examine its preconceptions of the word “science.” Jonathan Friedman, a physics professor at Amherst College, said it is difficult for people to reconcile the “science” they learn in grade school with the discipline practiced by scientists.
“Science is filled with controversy and debates,” he said. “It’s not just a collection of facts.”