What's in a word?

To no one's surprise, the Oxford English Dictionary has chosen "vax" as the 2021 Word of the Year. "Pandemic" seemed like a close second, as the online dictionary found that the use of that term increased 57 times over the past year in searches. Perhaps the somewhat hopeful meaning of "vax" made the difference, though the word also is part of "antivax." 

Previous selections over the four years leading up to 2020 were post-truth, youthquake, toxic, and climate emergency. In 2020, the OED expanded its award to lockdown, bushfires, Covid-19, Black Lives Matter, WFH (working from home), keyworkers, and furlough.

Ten years ago, in 2011, the winner was "squeezed middle." which seems both applicable still and a very long time ago, psychically.

Fifteen years ago, in 2006, the winner was "carbon neutral," which again seems apt for our time but overlooked as the entire world panicked.

According to Google Trends, today "Von Miller" has been searched over 500,000 times -- and that makes sense since he was traded just yesterday to the LA Rams from the Broncos. Maybe people just wanted to know what all the fuss was about.

"Where do I vote" has been searched about 50,000 times today, which may be a wakeup about just how apathetic most American voters are -- or it may indicate that voters are more organized than to wait until Election Day to figure out where to cast a ballot.

Collecting huge aggregate numbers on Google searches may not seem very scientific, but the results certainly feel accurate, if not helpful.

Trending searches are a decent way to start assessing where we are in terms of interests. At least it's a starting point. The most searched term on Google for 2020? "Election results."

Interestingly, a dismayingly large percentage of Americans may still be searching for results on the last election.

In 2016, the top search was "Power Ball." 

I have no memory of the lottery being big news, though I assume it corresponds with some huge winner's payout.

This sort of "bird's eye view" of searches mostly reminds me that things change quite slowly, if at all. I do wonder what all those searchers found and whether they changed behaviors or simply became a bit wiser.

Searching does not equal "changing" or "fixing" or even "caring."

Those results require much more research and thinking.