Fascism wins July 4th bout over Patriotism; other actual, great words make the list
The words spoken by the American populace made a topsy-turvy affair of our Words We Speak power rankings. Amidst the celebration of American independence came loads of wonderful words and words we suspect are conflated with other ones in the national narrative.
Case and point: Fascism shot to number 1, while foil character Patriotism squeaked into the top 25.
Round 2 was peppered with prepositions and common greetings (Hi), but this week we are impressed and pleased to see several serious contenders which actually merit a look-up in your dusty dictionary in the rankings this week.
Let’s break down Round 3:
Round 3 – July 3, 2019
1 Fascism
Round 2 ranking: 9
The oncoming of Donald Trump’s 4th of July Parade certainly gave many talking heads the opportunity to illicit Fascism into the conversation. Because only fascists enjoy celebrating their country, right? Patriotism (23) put up a good fight, but it could not dissuade the populace from recognizing the difference between them.
2 Noun
Round 2 ranking: 2
We are sensing a pattern. Most words on our rankings are being looked up, but then the looker-uppers need to dig further to know exactly what kind of word they just looked up. This is giving Noun the juice to stay atop of the list.
3 Adjective
Round 2 ranking: 3
If the above pattern is false, then we don’t have an answer as to why Adjective is still in the rankings. Common grammar elements are taken for granted, we guess.
4 Concentration Camp
Round 2 ranking: 1
Talks of this word, Concentration Camp, existing at the border of the United States of America is still abuzz in the American states of unity. Any one want to levy this word where it belongs: to the guys running the big, overpopulated, hammer-and-sickle country in the far east?
5 Pedantic
Round 2 ranking: unranked
Great! A new word! A word of merit! A word worthy of opening a dictionary!
Pedantic enjoys utterances by the pedantries of your inner circles. It sounds smart, therefore its use is often misapplied. Good on it, though, to make it at number 5 in the rankings this round.
6 Culture
Round 2 ranking: 8
Talks about Culture should never stop. Culture is important.
But we suspect that while pockets of people all over the globe are trying to redefine their own cultures, they should be aware that Culture will not be redefined anytime soon.
7 Scholastic
Round 2 ranking: unranked
Here’s a fascinating one. Scholastic in the olden days referred to men learning of theology and philosophy, but now today it simply applies to anything of scholarship or school.
A number 7 spot is impressive for a learned word to plop in out of nowhere. Its presence therein, though, is likely fleeting.
8 Socialism
Round 2 ranking: 17
After crying foul last week, Socialism got mostly what it wanted and returned to a top 10 spot. As we stated earlier, Socialism will stick around until the climax of the next US presidential elections, where it will surely be put to the test.
9 Industrious
Round 2 ranking: unranked
One feels strong and perhaps covered in soot just by uttering this word: Industrious. People like to be described as Industrious – marked with skill and diligence. But we seem to look down on cities or nations bearing the moniker of Industrious – because, so it seems, they are killing our planet, or something.
10 Communication
Round 2 ranking: 7
Could someone come sit in and have a talk with us? We don’t know why Communication is hanging around the top 10. Something is not being communicated with us.
11 Advantageous
Round 2 ranking: unranked
Inevitable puns to follow: Advantageous took the opportunity in front of it by the horns and capitalized on the missteps of other words in order to gain a position in the list.
12 Sufflate
Round 2 ranking: unranked
Sufflate is a little-known verb meaning “to blow up”. Not of things, but of egos and personalities. That makes sense for Sufflate to be at the number 12 position, as we can identify many in popular media who often sufflate themselves.
13 Higgle
Round 2 ranking: unranked
Higgle is a funny and slight alteration of the tougher-sounding Haggle. What did Higgle have to haggle to get up this high in the list?
14 Love
Round 2 ranking: 10
Love is patient. It’s still around on our list, and we hope that means that Love is being shared around the world. (That’s our one soppy sentimentalism for this round.)
15 Rape
Round 2 ranking: 20
Yuck. A plus-five raise for Rape. What’s going on here?
16 Gay
Round 2 ranking: 14
Social and political points for Gay abound in the global discussion. The word may have been bolstered with the face of the US Women’s Soccer Team and the voice for gay rights leading the charge for the US to win a fourth World Cup (at the expense of our motherland!).
17 Ostentatious
Round 2 ranking: unranked
The success of Sufflate this week gave Ostentatious room to wiggle into the list as well. Then again, Ostentatious may have taken advantage of being used as ammo against the funny-haired man wanting a bombastic independence day parade.
18 Hi
Round 2 ranking: 23
Hi somehow rose higher in our list. One possibility is that HI, the abbreviation for Hawaii, is boosting Hi’s number of lookups.
19 Anthemion
Round 2 ranking: unranked
A scary-sounding word which actual means something very nice. Anthemion is an arrangement of flowers. Very nice, indeed. Some hubbub about the Countess of Wessex may have brought Anthemion into the national discussion.
20 Proliferate
Round 2 ranking: unranked
You don’t have to read a newspaper for long to understand how Proliferate got onto our top 25 list. Big and ostentatious nations as well as small and sufflated nations make the threat to Proliferate big, bad weapons.
21 Racism
Round 2 ranking: 25
After nearly being ousted from the list last week, Racism somehow earned four spots up the ladder. We have come to terms that this word will stay around for quite some time because we live in a racist country, so we’re told.
22 Verb
Round 2 ranking: 16
Verb, along with Noun and Adjective, is still here. Maybe soon people will learn what these words are for good.
23 Patriotism
Round 2 ranking: unranked
Patriotism was on the wrong end of the bout versus Fascism. Last week, the United States of the North American Country Between Canada and Mexico’s Independence Day celebration was being touted as either fascist or patriotic. The latter, the 242-time winner of 4th of July Celebrations, sadly lost this time.
24 For
Round 2 ranking: unranked
Last week, In and In double-teamed the list to hold two spots. Now, For and For are at it.
25 For
Round 2 ranking: unranked
For why do we need to repeat ourselves?