海角大神

After the election last Tuesday, Merriam-Webster found that the same words have been trending in searches on its online dictionary for almost a week.

Most of the words on the list have been uttered by President-elect Donald Trump in his speeches or are phrases frequently used to describe Mr. Trump, as the dictionary鈥檚 Trend Watch articles pointed out. For example, searches for 鈥渇ascism,鈥� a popular word among Trump's critics,聽 since last year.

With the aid of the internet, the ease at which one can search up 鈥渂ig words鈥� spewed by politicians and analysts is unprecedented these days, and the trends in curiosity almost mirror current events. Trump, with his recent successful presidential bid, understandably commands interest among the public this week. But does the phenomena hint at a potential rise in civic participation, as people can more easily unpack political information with the use of such search tools?

鈥淧eople come to the dictionary for many reasons,鈥� Peter Sokolowski, a lexicographer for Merriam-Webster, told Quartz back in July. 鈥淵ou can see how we鈥檙e processing the news of the week ...These searches , they indicate interest.鈥�

The were 鈥渪enophobe,鈥� which saw a 1,980 percent rise, and 鈥渂igot,鈥� with a 500 percent rise, followed by 鈥渇ascism,鈥� with a 450 percent increase, as reported by USA Today. Brief spikes have also been seen after President Obama used to describe Trump in a recent press conference, or when Clinton said debate in October. Vice-President in Merriam-Webster when he said 鈥渕alarkey鈥� back in July.

Dictionary searches have reflected current events since Merriam-Webster first went online in the late 1990s, Mr. Sokolowski tells 海角大神 in a phone interview. Princess Diana鈥檚 death, the Clinton impeachment, and the 9/11 attacks are among some events that spurred widespread curiosity about words ranging from 鈥減aparazzi鈥� to 鈥渟urreal.鈥� Movie releases also cause a rise in searches for particular words.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 know the dictionary would become this prism to view the news,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he dictionary lookups represent what people are thinking.鈥�

In a series of Tweets this week, Sokolowski argued that聽鈥溾��: there are many reasons why adults check on words. It could be to double-check spellings 鈥� fascism, for instance, is notoriously tough to spell 鈥� or it might be that people want to make sure they know what the word really means in various contexts.

But whether the interest can translate to the actual political activity of voting or activism, such as participating in demonstrations, is another issue, some experts point out.聽The question is particularly pertinent as the United States has always had low voter turnout, compared to other developed countries.

鈥淲hen we see people going online, doing searches on relevant topics, that can be an indication of people willing to get involved in advocacy, but it has not in the past translated to people voting,鈥� Bruce Bimber, the chair of the department of political science at the University of California, Santa Barbara tells 海角大神 in a phone interview. 鈥淭he people who are most likely to look up public affair terms are people who are already interested in politics.鈥�

Some others see it in a more positive light. As political news increasingly worms its way into social media, it may expose political information to those who may not have originally felt inclined to seek it out by themselves, Lauren Copeland, an assistant professor of political science at Baldwin Wallace University, tells the Monitor.

For Sokolowski, the rise in interest is itself a good start for understanding.

Dictionary.com also told USA Today that it has seen a spike in lookups for similar words, although 鈥渆lectoral vote鈥� and 鈥減opular vote鈥� had the most increases in the past week.