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George's Reads
The Twitter account for Merriam-Webster's online dictionary likes to update readers with what words people are looking up most on certain days, most notably, on days when major events occur.
For example, as Donald Trump's summit with Kim Jong Un was happening in Singapore:
📈Top lookups, in order: dotard, pragmatic, summit, mano a mano, despotic— Merriam-Webster (@Merriam-Webster) 1528770016.0
After Donald Trump gave Alice Johnson clemency:
📈'Clemency' and 'commute' are at the top of our searches today. https://t.co/XiRiyqW4bv— Merriam-Webster (@Merriam-Webster) 1528310471.0
And during the Royal Wedding:
📈Top lookups, in order: episcopal, quire, asunder, prebendary, pomp and circumstance, duchess #RoyalWedding— Merriam-Webster (@Merriam-Webster) 1526732448.0
This year, the online dictionary decided to share what the top lookups on Father's Day were, and, well...
the list took an unexpectedly dark turn:
📈Top lookups today: father, dad, daddy, honor, concentration camp— Merriam-Webster (@Merriam-Webster) 1529251777.0
Yes, one of the most looked up terms on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary yesterday was "concentration camp."
Dictionary.com found a similar spike in searches for the phrase:
Searches for the meaning of "concentration camp" have 📈 635% on https://t.co/EoMLt7nGp1 in the past 24 hours. https://t.co/zRKLeDwyVv— Dictionary.com (@Dictionary.com) 1529336179.0
No doubt it is related to the fact that on Father's Day, the story of children being detained by our government was trending in the news.
Many found this quite disturbing:
@MerriamWebster This shattered my heart 😢💔🖤— 💗 Erika 💗 (@💗 Erika 💗) 1529255604.0
@MerriamWebster I wish this wasn’t true . . . But it is.— same guy as last time (@same guy as last time) 1529271544.0
@MerriamWebster Well this word association took a turn 😕😂😭— Martha Elizabeth (@Martha Elizabeth) 1529258376.0
@MerriamWebster Sad that concentration camp was on the search today. :( What has our country come to.— L to the D (@L to the D) 1529299544.0
Although some were cheering the dictionary for calling it out:
@MerriamWebster I love you, @MerriamWebster.— Mary Forrest (@Mary Forrest) 1529257181.0
@MerriamWebster Doesn't that put things into perspective.— Allie (@Allie) 1529251975.0
@MerriamWebster thank you for what you do 💜— connie (@connie) 1529252414.0
This about sums it up:
@MerriamWebster @Trumpnado2016 America ... concentration camp. Seriously. This is really, really bad.— MOTR Politics (@MOTR Politics) 1529295470.0