Editor's Corner

Hello all!

I was looking around for something interesting to share with you when I stumbled on this page of Most Searched-for Word Definitions in every country. I’m a sucker for words, maps, and learning more about other countries, so I thought this was something really cool. Since we’re in North America, I thought I’d start there. Here’s the map of North and Central America.

As I read through the different words for each country, I thought a few things:

• Demure? Why demure? It appears as the most popular word in several countries. (I later discovered people were curious about demure because there’s a TikTok video in which the star uses the word demure many times with a lot of emphasis. They are talking about makeup, clothes, how they dress for work, then they use some Spanish slang for body parts. They are hilarious, but they are not using the traditional definition of demure.)
• Love? Come on Panama. I wanna know what love is, and I want you to show me…but I’m not sure why you’re looking for it in the dictionary.
• Gaslighting, resilience, integrity—I recognize these from the news and current goings-on, so they make sense. But these are “heavy” words. Gaslighting is “a form of psychological manipulation that occurs when someone is intentionally made to doubt their own sanity, memory, or perceptions of reality.” Resilience is the ability to stand up against difficulty and recover quickly. Integrity is having strong principles and morality. Here are some assorted facts from the article:

<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>Demure, fascism and resilience are the most searched-for word definitions in six countries each.

<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>The most searched-for definition in the U.S. is gaslighting, which has 110,000 monthly searches.

<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>The UK’s most searched-for definition is diversity (9,900 monthly searches).

<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>Integrity is Canada’s most searched-for definition (8,100 monthly searches).

<![if !supportLists]>· <![endif]>In Australia, genocide is the most searched-for definition, with 4,400 monthly searches.

Yikes! Genocide? I decided I stop there, right after checking my cousin’s country, Greece. Ah, well Greece’s word made me laugh because it is a little different. The top word looked up there is dank.

It’s interesting to see what’s on the minds of people around the world, I just can’t handle so much potential misery today. I think it’s time for a puppy or two (or nine).

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Knowledge Enablement

Pronouns: she/her | Call via Teams | jackhenry.com

Editor’s Corner Archives: https://episystechpubs.com/