The end of the year is approaching by leaps and bounds and like every year, we take stock, not of our good resolutions kept to the end, because we already know that the result is not very good, but rather of everything that marked this year. From the best series of 2022 to the biggest moments of discomfort on TV in 2022 through the worst scams of 2022, this year will have been rich in emotions. We can even see it through the different definitions searched on Google in France: yes, the French are keen to learn, and that’s good. Zé barti for the list of the country’s most famous definitions (follow carefully, there’s a question at the end).
Playful
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Seen like that, we could say that all the same, the French are a bit stupid to make the word “playful” the most sought-after definition of 2022, because we are not on one of the most complicated words in the language French.
In fact, the explanation is simple: all that is because of the professional baccalaureate French test which took place on June 14, 2020 and whose title was: “Le jeu est- he still playful? “. Inevitably, at the end of the test, many high school students threw themselves on Google to check if they had made an off-topic. And unfortunately, this was the case for many of them because they had not understood that the adjective ludic meant “something which is relative to the game, a generally amusing, recreational or entertaining approach” according to the definition of the Larousse and L’Internaute. Come on, 4/20.
NFT
Ahhhh, NFTs, that rich thing that we still don’t know what it’s for. I imagine that no one is therefore shocked to see this word in 2nd place in the ranking, so no one still really knows how to define what it is. But for you, I’m going to try this perilous exercise: this acronym comes from “Non-fungible token”. This economic term represents, roughly, a digital certificate which guarantees the unique and non-interchangeable authenticity of a work, which is also digital. For example, if one of our drawings of types of jeans were sold in Paint and you bought it in NFT, well you would be the proud owner, digitally speaking, of the original and unique version of this illustration . So who is tempted?
Resilience
I’m not going to lie to you, I have no fucking idea why the word “resilience” is the 3rd most searched definition on Google this year.
Because of Covid? But in this case, we would be two years late!
Because of the planet that will explode because everyone cares about the environment? Yes, because resilience represents “the capacities of an individual, an ecosystem, a species to build itself and to live satisfactorily despite traumatic circumstances, external disturbances”, according to Larousse.
In conclusion, I would say that we talk about resilience because we are getting used to living with the fact that we will soon die. Is it more clear for you?
queen consort
This word, which no one had heard since 1952, emerged with the death of Queen Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022. The queen consort suddenly became Camilla since the adjective “consort” is given to “the spouse or the ‘wife of the sovereign and head of state in monarchies’, so here, the wife of the new king, Charles III. We would have preferred never to have to hear this word again if you ask us (we miss her so much Elizabeth, with her little hats, damn it).
Jubilee
Another word related to our mother to all, Queen Elizabeth II. This time, she had not yet left us since her jubilee celebrated her 70 years of reign over England. The royal jubilee indeed designates, in the United Kingdom, a celebration organized to celebrate the presence of a sovereign on the throne for a certain number of years. For the 70th anniversary, it is thus the platinum jubilee. In the Christian religion, the jubilee is celebrated every 50 years whereas in Ancient Egypt, it corresponded to the 30 years of reign of a pharaoh. Today, the word has become a little democratized and can also be used to celebrate the anniversary of an event that has had effects in time or the career of an athlete. Can’t wait to attend Olivier Giroud’s jubilee in 40 years.
NATO
Of course, the war in Ukraine came up in our Google searches this year. And since ninth-grade classes seem a bit far away, many of us Googled what NATO meant. As a reminder, it is the acronym for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a politico-military organization signed by several countries to protect each other in the event of war. It has 30 countries from Europe and North America and the issue that has brought NATO back into the news is Ukraine’s entry into this organisation. To understand what that would entail, I’ll let you reread the things you need to know to understand the conflict in Ukraine, I’m not going to do all the work for you either.
Russian oligarch
Again because of the war in Ukraine, this term came up a lot in the news in 2022, especially with people who suddenly disappeared in Russia. The Russian oligarchs are indeed a small group of businessmen who grew rich during the 80s and 90s with the fall of the USSR and who today participate in government decision-making thanks to a close link with the political power in place, here Vladimir Putin. And since the start of the war in Ukraine, dozens of these Russian oligarchs have mysteriously died, hence the finally logical presence of this term in this top.
Wokism
A word that was already present in the most searched definitions on Google in France in 2021. Like what, we have not finished hearing about it (thank you Zemmour and the far right). So, I’ll give it to you in a short version, but a few years ago, wokism corresponded to an American current of thought which qualified people who were aware of the injustices and discriminations suffered by black people and minorities. It was rather positive, whereas today, the term has been hijacked, in particular by the French right, to qualify the moralizing people wanting to impose a certain left ideology, going so far as to call it “obscurantism”. . Yes, it doesn’t take much to scare the old and the rich on the right.
POV
If you doubted the influence of TikTok on our world, here is a good reminder: “POV” is indeed the acronym of the English “point of view”, which means “point of view” (but you had it, eh my little bilinguals, I knew it). This word was first used in TikTok videos before spreading all over social media, instagram posts and tweets, to describe someone’s point of view, like in the meme below. Yeah, we’re too into the trends at Topito, you’ll notice.
Fatwa
The term “fatwa” came out of the closet because of the knife attack perpetuated on the author of the book “The Satanic Verses”, Salman Rushdie, in August 2022. The latter was indeed sentenced to death by a fatwa for his writings in 1989. Originally, a fatwa was a legal opinion given on a matter by a religious authority specializing in Islamic law. For example, a fatwa can be pronounced to answer the question “Are followers of Islam allowed to go on Tinder?” “.
Today, the term has drifted a bit and is used by Islamists to pronounce sentences (which can go as far as death) against someone. Thus, in 2020, Gérald Darmanin had estimated that Samuel Paty had been “victim of a fatwa” for having shown caricatures of Muhammad during his history-geo class. Yes, we would have clearly preferred never to have to look up the definition of this word again.
Using your knowledge, translate the following sentence: “POV: Playful and Resilient NFT Questions Wokism in Queen Consort’s Jubilee and Requests Fatwa from NATO Regarding Russian Oligarchs’ Invitation “.
Source: Google Trends.