1. Posthumously trended this week (increasing in searches by 102%) as the country still isn’t over the Parkland, Florida school shooting and neither are we. As Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students went back to school this week, the country (for the most part) applauded the heroism and activism that they’ve displayed. And, they’ve inspired action in all of us too—Dick’s Sporting Goods for the win! To show gratitude and respect to those who were victims of the shooting, two universities posthumously admitted Florida shooting victims: West Point and University of Connecticut.
2. Husky increased in searches this week by 194% perhaps due to the news above (UConn Huskies) or due to a little Siberian Husky puppy who was rescued from . . . a white supremacist. In San Antonio, Texas, a white supremacist used a stolen ID to try to buy the puppy, but ended up just walking out of the pet store with it instead. But, both man and puppy were found—man was arrested, and puppy found a nice, accepting home.
3. Taint trended this week, increasing in searches by 123%. Now, it’s time for the warning: This is the vulgar usage of the word taint, people . . . . And, that leads us to Brendan Fraser and his article in GQ. In it, he talks about how he was groped by the then President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. He states: “His left hand reaches around, grabs my a$$ cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint.” In the article, he continues to talk about how he was inspired by the #metoo movement and Times Up, and how those women gave him the courage to finally speak up.
4. Axilla is a fairly obscure word, but it increased in searches this week by 93%. Why? Well, as a fancy word for armpit, it appeared in the New York Times crossword puzzle and Bella Thorne used it in her comeback to haters who criticized her for having hairy axillae on the red carpet. She stated: “Whether I’m a tomboy or a rebel, I’m comfortable with it, so why shouldn’t you be? If you really want my legs and armpits shaved so badly, you can do it yourself. Wait, I take that back: I’ll shave my own armpits if need be because I don’t trust any of you city slickers next to my precious axilla! As much as I see myself and other girls get hate for having body hair. God forbid I’m not all waxed and oiled up AT ALL TIMES.” Truth.
5. Redacted increased in searches this week by 81%, and that’s of course thanks to the democratic memo that was released by Congress on Saturday. The memo has redactions in it (blacked out text), text that the White House objected to. There’s still debate about its contents, but the White House did not have nearly the same reaction to the GOP memo that was released previously—just saying.
6. When you think swindler, do you ever think Canada? No! But, apparently Trump does because this is what he recently said about the country: “We cannot continue to lose that kind of money with one country. We lose a lot with Canada. People don’t know it,” he said. “Canada’s very smooth: They have you believe that it’s wonderful, and it is—wonderful for them. Not wonderful for us.” Canada took this as a description in line with a swindler, and released this article “Blame Canada: Trump paints us as suave international swindlers.” Can’t even play nice with our neighbors to the north . . . sheesh.
7. Room had our highest increase in searches this week at 915%. Strange? A bit. But, there were a lot of newsworthy stories about “rooms” this week. So, we’ll outline a few for you here:
- Snopes.com reports that “In late February 2018, news stories reported that Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson spent $31,000 on a dining set for his office and billed it to the federal agency, just as the the Trump administration was planning to cut HUD’s budget. Readers who saw these details discussed on social media asked if it was true—and it is.” He is apparently trying to cancel the order . . .
- Newsweek is reporting that “A 32-year-old woman is reportedly refusing to leave her college dorm room on Manhattan’s East Side, despite not being enrolled in any classes at the school for nearly two years. Hunter College has now taken legal action against the woman, who has not paid her room and board.” Ha! Guess that’s how you live cheaply in NYC.
- USA Today reported about Ellen Degeneres and her gesture to Jimmy Kimmel: “DeGeneres surprised her guest by naming a room in the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Heart Institute after Billy. ‘That will forever be the Billy Kimmel room,’ DeGeneres said as footage of the room was shown behind her.” Oh Ellen, we love you.
8. Genus meaning “a class or group of individuals, or of species of individuals” trended this week with an increase of 406%. Two new giant viruses have been found and added to the genus. So, what is a giant virus? NPR states: “They’re the lumbering Godzillas of the virus world, big enough to see under a regular microscope, although it would still take about 300 of the viruses side by side to reach the width of a human hair.” Hmm.
9. Searches for the word colonizer were up this week. It’s a term used in the movie Black Panther, and it’s causing an interesting language debate (which you know means we love it!).
Searches for the word "colonizer" are 📈 today on https://t.co/EoMLt7nGp1. For everyone who just saw @TheBlackPanther (and those of you who haven't gotten there yet), here's what it means: https://t.co/EUZu7aZWpH #Shuri #BlackPanther
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) February 24, 2018
10. Lastly, semitism trended this week. NPR reported “Anti-Semitic Incidents See Largest Single-Year Increase On Record, Audit Finds.” Wow, that’s scary. Louis Farrakhan just proved this too in his most recent speech. Farrakhan is the leader of the Nation of Islam, a black nationalist group since 1977. He engaged in a series of anti-semitic remarks this Sunday.
