And it extends beyond political connotations.
“Polarization means division, but it’s a very specific kind of division,” said Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster ’s editor at large, in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press ahead of Monday’s announcement. “Polarization means that we are tending toward the extremes rather than toward the center.”The election was so divisive, many American voters went to the polls with a feeling that the opposing candidate was an existential threat to the nation.
“The basic job of the dictionary is to tell the truth about words,” the Merriam-Webster editor continued. “We’ve had dictionaries of English for 420 years and it’s only been in the last 20 years or so that we’ve actually known which words people look up.”Even lighthearted memes — like those making fun of Australian breakdancer Rachael “Raygun” Gunn’s performance — or the proliferation of look-alike contests, or who counts as a nepo baby proved polarizing.
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