Words of the Year 2022

THROUGHOUT THE MONTH OF DECEMBER 2022
WE WILL BE POSTING THE
"WORDS OF THE YEAR" --
THE TENTH YEAR
OF OUR COUNTDOWN.

DECEMBER 31:

FUCKED

"If this America First, then America is FUCKED."

Jon Stewart uttered the Word of the Year that epitomizes the current state of the United States. Stewart asserted the above in July when RepubliQan blocked the "military burn pits bill" that would have given U.S. veterans expanded healthcare.

"This is an embarrassment to the Senate, to the country, to the founders, and all that they profess to hold dear," the comedian and activist said. "If this is America First, then America is fucked."

But "America is FUCKED" goes beyond this one instance of GQP hypocrisy.

Pictured above right: Click the image to listen to Jon Stewart's entire speech -- or click HERE.

If the RepubliQan Party is still in the clutches of the Imperial Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Donald Trump -- who called for the termination of the US Constitution -- then America is FUCKED. If toads like Ron DeSatan, Greg ScAbbott, and Sarah Huckster Sanders (and many others like them) can get elected, then America is FUCKED. If the Supreme Court can force their hollow religious edicts down our throats, then America is FUCKED. If Dark Money from the NRA and American Oligarchs keeps lining the pockets for RepubliQan traitors, If Mass Murderers are free to purchase AR15s and other weapons of war, then America is FUCKED. If White Supremacists continue to infiltrate our police forces and National Guard, then America is FUCKED. If the GQP continues to ban books, regulate language, re-write history, and restrict education, then America is FUCKED. If the GQP continues to strangle our political districts with gerrymandering and if they continue to suppress free and fair elections, then America is FUCKED. If RepubliQans refuse to honor the results of free and fair elections, and if they continue to support insurrectionists who attempt to overthrow our government, then America is FUCKED.

And these deplorable and despicable cretins wrap themselves in flags and cheer for "politicians" who hump flag poles (when they're not using them to beat police officers),and they proclaim that they're for "America First."

If this is America First, then AMERICA IS FUCKED.

HONORABLE MENTION

EXHAUSTIPATED: Too tired to give a shit.

And yes, we may suffer from PTSD (Post Trump Stress Disorder), and we may be exhaustipated from the clownish and treasonous antics of Gym Jordan, Mutt Gaetz, Lauren Boobert, Perjury Taylor Green, and the rest of the Keystone GOPs, we can't afford to let up on our fight to save our country. #justsaying

DECEMBER 30:

INFLATION

One thing GQP members of congress tweeted out frequently and gleefully this past year was news about inflation. You know that line from the Brady Bunch TV show, 'Marsha, Maraha, Marsha"? Well, for RepubliQan lawmakers it was "Inflation, Inflation, Inflation."

What they failed to mention, though, was that oil companies and other major corporations were needlessly pushing prices higher and higher (watch for year-end reports when they all announce RECORD PROFITS) while paying gobs and gobs of Dark Money to GQP corporate whores -- AND -- that the GQP blocked any and every initiative by President Biden and the Democrats to attempt to help the average American and struggling American families.

HONORABLE MENTION:

UNHOUSED: While the GQP works to destroy our economy and as they force more and more families to lose their homes, I heard for the first time this year news reports where the homeless were referred to as the "unhoused."

DECEMBER 29:

ULTRA MAGA

Remember when Hillary Clinton described Trump’s followers as “deplorable”? She was close. She should have said “despicable.”

Alas, not enough people heeded her warning, and our electorate made the biggest blunder in our nation’s history.

Fortunately, Joe Biden won big over the twice-impeached criminal (and Imperial Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan), and he has sounded the alarm against the deplorable – er, despicable – racists, Fascists, and neo-Nazis who for some odd reason expect John Kennedy, Jr., to appear so that he can help re-install the Orange Toad into the White House. Throughout the year, Biden has referred to this crazy knot of Trump toads as the “Ultra MAGA.”

HONORABLE MENTION:

WOKE: Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSatan viewed State Attorney Andrew Warren as being too “woke” after Warren signed a pledge not to prosecute abortion seekers of providers. Warren took him to court, and during the trial, attorneys for Warren asked DeSatan aides to define the word “woke.” : DeSatan’s General Counsel Ryan Newman said that “woke” means "the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”

Hmm. That actually sounds pretty good to me.

DECEMBER 28:

#ISTANDWITH

Oxford Languages had the public vote on their “Word of the Year” for 2022 between three contenders: the hashtag #IStandWith, Metaverse, and Goblin Mode. Goblin Mode – an expression I’d never heard before until OL published it as one of the three choices in their WotY vote – won. You can read about their victorious phrase by clicking HERE.

One of their three picks, Metaverse, ended up as an Honorable Mention on our list – see our entry below dated December 17th.

The final option in the OL vote, #IStandWith, finished – obviously – as a one of the frontrunners in our annuals Words of the Year
countdown.

Throughout the year, the hashtag #IStandWith was used to show support for a wide range of people and causes, but it was most frequently used to show support for Ukraine: #IStandWithUkraine.

DECEMBER 27:

WORDLE

Surely, you’ve seen the gray, yellow and green grids by now (and I apologize for calling you Shirley) – they’re everywhere. They display an individual’s attempts at guessing a five-letter world in the word game that has taken the world by storm, WORDLE. And get this – it was created by a dude by the name of WARDLE. I’m not making this up – read all about WORDLE HERE.

[LOL -- when I posted the info above, it told my wife about Jack WARDLE who invented WORDLE -- and she chastised me for making stuff up -- but it's true. As I stated above, "I'm not making this up." ]

DECEMBER 26:

AMERICANS

The GQP is so deeply rooted in hatred, racism and misogyny – as exhibited in our December 23rd and 24th entries below (for “gay” and “woman”) – that they rarely even try to hide it anymore. Every now and then one of the old guard in the GQP like Moscow Mitch will attempt to put lipstick on the pig, so to speak (or in this case, on the elephant), but it is always just a thin, very thing, veneer.

Early in 2022, before a vote to move the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act to the Senate floor failed, McConnell was asked by a reporter about concerns among voters of color, and he said this:

"Well, the concern is misplaced, because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans."

Did you catch that? His definition of "Americans" does NOT include African Americans.

The old racist white men and crazy ladies of the GQP asked Ketanji Brown Jackson to define "gay" and "woman" (again, see below), but if you were to ask members of the GQP to define "American," their definition would be very limited and would NOT include people of color.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

OVERT:

When news broke that Imperial Grand Wizard Trump dined with neo-Nazis KanYE West and Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-lago, Moscow Mitch stated that "there is no room in the RupliQan Party for antisemitism and white supremacy "-- BUT -- McConnell forgot to include the most important word: "OVERT" -- there is no room for OVERT antisemitism and racism in the RepubliQan party. They still, at times, attempt to hide it.

ANTISEMITISM, WHITE SUPREMACY and LOSER:

When twice-impeached so-called "president" Donald Trump heard that McConnell proclaimed, "no room in the Republican party for antisemitism and white supremacy," he called McConnell at "loser." Trump knows good and well that there IS room for antisemitism and white supremacy in the GQP-- after all, that is the very make up of his devoted base.

Check this out: "New poll reveals GOP voters are actually pretty cool with racist, homophobic, antisemitic candidates" -- HERE.

DECEMBER 25:

RUSSIAN WARSHIP GO FUCK YOURSELF

Now here's a phrase chock full of holiday spirit just in time for Christmas: RUSSIAN WARSHIP GO FUCK YOURSELF! This was the last communication made on February 24, 2022, during the Russian attack on Snake Island in Ukraine's territorial waters by border guard Roman Hrybov to the Russian missile cruiser Moskva. Info on this is HERE.

Pictured at the right: Billboard in Dnipro, Ukraine, with the now-familiar statement written in Russian.

Pictured below left: People gather around a Christmas tree decorated with the colors of the Ukrainian national flag at Sophia square in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. Ukrainians can enjoy only some blue and yellow gleam barely lighting up a more modest Christmas tree at a traditional square as authorities have imposed some restrictions and schedule power cuts, meaning that there's no traditional gleaming city during the Christmas season. (Photo credit: Felipe Dana/AP)

Pictured below right: Crowds of people celebrate the New Year's Eve at Sophia square with an illuminated Christmas tree and the holiday's market with the St. Sophia Cathedral in the background, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec. 31, 2021. (Photo credit: Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

DECEMBER 24:

GAY

It's Christmas Eve -- have you donned your gay apparel? I hope so -- but remember -- if you live in Florida, "gay apparel" is illegal. Governor Ron DeSatan has outlawed the word "gay."

Imma be honest -- why would ANYONE support DeSatan and/or anyone in the GQP these days? Well, that's a rhetorical question because I already know the answer: The ONLY reason someone would back the GQP these days is to support their misogynistic, homophobic ideology deeply rooted in racism and hatred meant to perpetuate white supremacy.

Info about DeSatan's hatefulness is HERE.

Florida's students spoke out loud and clear against the GOP's bill to cancel free speech and LGBTQ people with the use of the hashtag #SayGayAnyway.

Oh...and then there's this: "'Don't Say Gay' Florida lawmaker indicted on fraud charges": HERE. Can you still say "guilty" in Florida?

DECEMBER 23:

WOMAN

If there is one thing for certain in 21st century American politics, it is that the core beliefs of the modern day RepubliQan party are deeply rooted in 100% pure hated.

Yesterday's entry on this inventory highlighted the GQP's hatred rooted in racism and their desire to perpetuate white supremacy. Today's pick spotlight's RepubliQan animus firmly established in homophobic and transphobic ideology -- and both yesterday's and today's selections are from the SCOTUS confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Here's what went down as described by Alia E. Dastagir of the USA Today:

In the 13th hour of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson's confirmation hearing Tuesday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked the Supreme Court nominee: “Can you provide a definition for the word ‘woman’?”
Jackson, appearing confused, responded, "I’m not a biologist.”
Blackburn chided Jackson, claiming that "the fact that you can’t give me a straight answer about something as fundamental as what a woman is underscores the dangers of the kind of progressive education that we are hearing about."
Senators on both sides of the aisle have used Jackson's confirmation hearing to air issues that have less to do with Jackson's qualifications and more to do with their respective parties (i.e., Blackburn's & the GOP's hatred toward the LGBTQ+ community)."

The full article is HERE.

In response to Blackburn's attempt at trolling Brown Jackson, MSNBC commentator and host Joy Reid said this: "Clearly the answer to the right wing question #WhatIsAWoman is: a person you collect a bounty on if she tries to get an abortion and who you shrug at and say 'have the baby or we'll sue you' if she gets raped. Also: someone whose job is to have big boobs and get men a sandwich."

DECEMBER 22:

**SIGH** (FOLLOWED BY PROLONGED SILENCE)

This is not the first time silence has been included on my annual countdown of Words of the Year. Nor is it the second. As a matter of fact, there have been multiple silent communications included on my past yearly inventories.

The first was in 2014 when NPR’s Scott Simon interviewed Bill Cosby and his wife about a noteworthy art exhibit the two were sponsoring with the Smithsonian. Simon brought up allegations of sexual molestation and rape against Bill Cosby in this way:

“This question gives me no pleasure, Mr. Cosby, but there have been serious allegations raised about you in recent days.” Cosby conveyed a thousand words about the uncomfortable and shrouded truth by not speaking and merely shaking his head.

In 2016, deafening “silence” – an in “moments of silence” – reverberated on my list of Words of the Year in response to numerous acts of domestic terrorism (for example, police officers shot down in Dallas; club patrons at “Pulse” murdered in Orlando; and sadly, too many other killings).

My 2019 list included a RED HAT – a visual symbol of HAT-RED – and a cough, a very obvious and cleverly subtle message from Justin Trudeau which conveyed disdain for a play-actor on the world stage of politics.

In addition, my annual countdowns have included punctuation marks, alpha-numeric abbreviations, and emojis – so this year, the *sigh* heard-round-the-world is included.

Pictured above left: The *sigh* heard 'round the world. Above right: Cruz questions Ketanji Brown Jackson.

Here’s the background, as described by Elie Mystal of The Nation:

I knew that the confirmation hearings for Ketanji Brown Jackson (for the Supreme Court) would produce a lot of insults and smears from Republicans trying to be racist enough for Fox News viewers to get the message but not so racist that The New York Times would have to acknowledge it. Jackson surely knew it too.

And despite over 20 hours of questioning over two days …she never once lost her cool…But she did take one really long pause. During Tuesday’s opening round of questions, Senator Ted Cruz went into full racist smear mode.

Cruz came prepared with posters (from a children’s book, Antiracist Baby, written by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi) like an office manager who never learned how to use PowerPoint…Cruz pointed to his poster and, in his most wolfishly serious voice, asked, “Do you agree…that babies are racist?

Jackson started to answer. She said, “Senator.” And then she sighed. And then she paused. For a long time. As the silence filled the room, I felt like I could see Jackson make the same calculation nearly every Black person and ancestor has made at some point while living in the New World.

The above excerpt is from the article “Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Long Pause Explained Racism and Sexism in America,” and the entire article is worth a read – HERE.

HONORABLE MENTION:

**SLAP**

Another memorable non-verbal communication from 2022:

At this year's Oscars ceremony, Will Smith became angry with host Chris Rock -- due to a (very mild) joke about Smtih's wife -- so when he approached the stage, he slapped Chris Rock across the face, stunning viewers across the world and causing a social media storm.

According to "Time" magazine, "Will Smith’s Oscars Slap Is the Culmination of Long, Complicated History." The article is HERE.

DECEMBER 21:

TRIGGER LAWS

"Trigger laws" have nothing to do with the American Taliban's (the GOP funded by NRA Dark Money) obsession with guns and the 2nd Amendment (and, of course, well-regulated militias), nor do they have anything to do with the American Taliban's' empowerment of mass murderers and glorification of cold-blooded killers (like Kyle Rottenhouse)

Instead, a trigger law is a law that is unenforceable but can achieve enforceability if a key change in circumstances occurs -- and in 2022, 13 states had trigger laws that were designed to outlaw a woman's ability to control her own reproductive rights if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

These trigger laws had to do with the American Taliban's institutionalized and ingrained misogyny and their radical ideology that women are mere objects or "hosts."

I am not making this up: These are the actual words of Oklahoma State Rep. Justin Humphrey who once submitted a bill in his state to significantly limit a woman’s control over her own body: “I understand that they (women) feel like that is their body. I feel like it is a separate — what I call them is, is you’re a ‘host.’ And you know when you enter into a relationship, you’re going to be that host and so, you know, if you pre-know that then take all precautions and don’t get pregnant.”

DECEMBER 20:

CODIFY

The word "codify" and the act of "codifying" law was big news in 2022.

In an entry in Wikipedia, codification is described as "the process of collecting and restating the law of a jurisdiction in certain areas, usually by subject, forming a legal code, i.e. a codex (book) of law.

Codification is one of the defining features of civil law jurisdictions. In common law systems, such as that of English law, codification is the process of converting and consolidating judge-made law or uncodified statutes enacted by the legislature into statute law." The article is HERE.

In May 2022, a bill to codify abortion protections failed in the Senate (info HERE), and just this month, President Biden signed a historic bill codifying same-sex and interracial marriage (info HERE).

DECEMBER 19:

ORDERLY TRANSITION

Evidence presented to the J6 Committe investigating Donald Trump's attempted coup to overthrow our government included information from former White House lawyer and Trump advisor Eric Herschmann.

Herschmann recounted a profanity-laced exchange he had with Trump lawyer John Eastman on Jan. 7, which abruptly ended with the government attorney issuing a grave warning to the president’s cohort.

"[Eastman] started to ask me about something dealing with Georgia and preserving something potentially for appeal," said Herschmann, "and I said to him ‘are you out of your fucking mind?'"

"I said, ‘I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: orderly transition, I don’t want to hear any other effing words coming out of your mouth no matter what. Repeat those words for me.”

Above: The GOP's official Baby Trump "I Won" Trophy -- because EVERYONE in the GOP gets a trophy!

“Eventually he said ‘orderly transition,’" reported Herschmann. "I said ‘good John. Now I’m going to give you the best free legal advice you’re ever getting in your life: get a great fucking criminal defense lawyer, you’re going to need it.’ And then I hung up on him.”

FYI: Investigators say that Eastman was the “architect” of Trump’s campaign to discredit the results of the election, even after the administration’s dozens of legal challenges in seven states were shot down.

DECEMBER 18:

GROOMING

Before I get to today's word, let me say first that if you're a logophile, and you haven't subscribed to word-guru Nancy Friedman's blog, then pause for a moment, link to her site HERE, and subscribe.

"Who is Nancy Friedman?" you ask.

Ms. Friedman is (in her words) "a verbal-branding pro in the San Francisco Bay Area with 25+ years' experience in name and tagline development, brand strategy, and naming architecture" -- and she publishes the most fascinating and up-to-date blog posts that focus on words, word histories, language, and trends related to daily locution.

There's a line in the "The Music Man" uttered by Mayor Shinn to his daughter: "You watch your phraseology!" Well, I don't have to worry about watching my phraseology because I subscribe to Fritinancy's blog, "Names, brands, writing, and the language of commerce" -- and if you read straight through without pausing and clicking on the link I provided above, then pause, click and subscribe HERE.

Okay, so now on to today's word, GROOMING -- and -- Imma admit that I'm going to be lazy today because my "Words of the Year" countdown intersects with Ms. Friedman's annual "Words of the Year" inventory (HERE) as both include "grooming" -- so I'm going to employ the time-saving "copy and paste" strategy. Here's what Ms. Friedman said:

"Why were so many conservatives obsessed with grooming in 2022? They weren’t worried about their dogs’ fur or about doing a little manscaping. The grooming panic was about children and the manufactured fear that books, schools, librarians, and people with left-of-center leanings were turning kids into sex objects. Grooming, wrote Kaleigh Rogers in April for FiveThirtyEight, “is a term that neatly draws together both modern conspiracy theories and old homophobic stereotypes, while comfortably shielding itself under the guise of protecting children.” Read more."

More from Ms. Friedman's blog -- when "grooming" was her "Word of the Week" -- is HERE.

Below: Hmm...I wasn't sure where to include these pics, so I'll just leave them here:

DECEMBER 17:

PRIVACY

When the radical, conservative inJustices of the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the public's immediate reaction understandably focused on what that meant in the way of rights for women to control their own bodies; however, the decision was also a frightening omen for what might be in the works related to future GOP attacks on another sacrosanct right -- an individual's right to privacy!

Concerns about how period and pregnancy tracking apps handle and share user data have existed for years now, but the recent Roe v. Wade decision put this aspect of information privacy in the spotlight.

RepubliQan politicians have actually crafted legislation to force tech companies to share potentially incriminating information with states governments that have outlawed abortions. Therefore, privacy advocates are renewing calls for enhanced regulation of the big tech platforms that host these various apps.

"Congress must pass legislation protecting people’s data so their web searches, text messages and location tracking aren’t weaponized against them," said Senator Wyden of Oregon. "Technology companies must take immediate steps to limit the collection and retention of customer data so that they don’t become tools of persecution."

It's no secret: the GQP is the American Taliban.

HONORABLE MENTION:

METAVERSE: When it comes to the word "metaverse," I'm reminded of that quote from Mark Twain (or whoever it was that said this): "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." Yep, everyone talks about the metaverse, but what the hell is it?

Seriously, what does "metaverse" mean? LOL -- check it out HERE.

DECEMBER 16:

QUIET QUITTING

The earliest entry that I could find for “quiet quitting” in Urban Dictionary is from late May 2022:

From Wikipedia: “There are no verifiable sources as to who coined the phrase, but it became popular during 2022, mostly through the social video platform TikTok. In 2022, quiet quitting experienced a surge in popularity in numerous publications following a viral TikTok video which was inspired by a Business Insider article. That same year, Gallup found that roughly half of the U.S. workforce were quiet quitters.”

“Key Takeaways” from an article about “quiet quitting” at Investopedia, HERE, include the following:

The term “quiet quitting” refers to employees who put no more effort into their jobs than absolutely necessary.
A 2022 Gallup survey suggested that at least half of the U.S. workforce consists of quiet quitters.
However, skeptics question those numbers and whether quiet quitting is a new trend or simply a trendy new name for worker dissatisfaction.

HONORABLE MENTION:

TERMINATE – but not in the sense of terminating one’s employment (and not in any way related to “quiet quitting”).

No, this use of “terminate” came from the Ku Klux Klan’s Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump who proclaimed that we need to “terminate” the US Constitution and re-install him as the so-called “president.”

Yes, the very toad who raised his right toad hand, placed his other toad hand on a Bible, and swore an oath to protect the US Constitution -- that toad announced that we should terminate our Constitution.

Pictured at the right: The toad known as Donald Trump with his toad hand on a Bible.-- the very book he betrays with his repugnant essence.

Hmm…forgive my French, as people say, but I have two words in response to Donald Trump's call to terminate the US Constitution: Fuck you.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: INFORMATION RELATED TO TRUMP'S "MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT" THAT HE MADE YESTERDAY IS HERE.

DECEMBER 15:

THE FIFTH

The Ku Klux Klan's Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump once siad, "You see the mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”

"It's disgraceful," he croaked about people who invoke the Fifth Amendment.

Then the very same toad showed last August for questioning under oath in New York’s civil investigation into his business practices -- but he quickly made it clear that he wouldn’t be answering. HE INVOKED THE FIFTH AMENDMENT.

DONALD TRUMP "TOOK THE FIFTH."

And get this -- his onetime national security adviser, so-called "General" Michael Flynn, invoked his Fifth Amendment right during a deposition before the January 6th Committee.

WHEN ASKED IF HE BELIEVED IN A PEACEFUL TRANSITION OF POWER IN THE UNITED STATES, MICHAEL FLYNN INVOKED HIS FIFTH AMENDMENT RIGHT.

They fucking asked him if he believed in the peaceful transition of power and a so-called "general" in the US Army took the Fifth.

I N C R E D I B L E

DECEMBER 14:

OUR 2022 NAMEOF THE YEAR: SPACE KAREN

I saw a TikTok video today where a woman introduces herself as Karen, but then spends her time explaining that she is not "a Karren" -- alas, she merely shares the moniker of the woman we all love to hate.

Interestingly enough, Melon Husk -- the new Chief Operating Karen at Twitter -- has now, indeed, morphed into the nation's First Karen due to his anger issues, bigotry, and gross mismangement of the social media platform. As a matter of fact, he is now known as "Space Karen":

"The name 'Space Karen' has been thrown around to make fun of Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk for his entitled and uncompassionate behavior. His actions including complaining about pronouns, defying lockdown orders, and downplaying the danger of the pandemic all give off the 'can I speak to the manager' energy that Karens are known for." More HERE.

HONORABLE MENTIONS FOR 2022 NAMES OF THE YEAR:

FISTPUMP McRUNPANTS

PERJURY TAYLOR GREENE

PATSY BALONEY (What Closed Captioning Services picked up for the name of White House Counsel Pasquale “Pat” Cipollone during the January 6th Committee Hearings)

PRINCE JOHN

VOLKSWA GENITALIA
INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT NAME OF THE YEAR:

Above left: Poor Laurent Boebert -- she really is as dumb as a rock. During an appearance on Fox "News" in March, she flubbed an attempt to diss President Biden, making a weird reference to “Prince John” that, alas, didn’t really land:

“I don’t know who’s running the federal government these days, uh Joe Biden or Prince John, uh, from, uh uh, uh, uh, Prince John.

We reached out to Prince John for comment, but he did not return our calls.

Above right: We are not making this up: Volkswagen Italia has an Instagram account, and if you check out the name for the account, you can't miss that it's called "VOLKSWA GENITALIA."

DECEMBER 13:

FLABBY & FECKLESS

Last April, when I first heard Barrack Obama invoke the names "Flabby" and "Feckless," I thought he was discussing two of the Seven Trumpy Dwarves.

Nope. He was sitting down with Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor in chief at The Atlantic to talk about the social web, Ukraine, and the future of democracy.

Goldberg said, "Spend a couple of minutes, if you can, explaining where we are and where you think this (Putin's attack in Ukraine) is headed.

Obama responded, "Well, it is a tragedy of historic proportions.... And what we’re seeing is the consequences of that kind of toxic mix in the hands of an autocratic government that doesn’t have a lot of checks and balances. I think it is also fair to say that it is a bracing reminder for democracies that had gotten flabby and confused and feckless around the stakes of things that we tended to take for granted.

To review his complete response and more on the Goldberg-Obama interview, click HERE.

DECEMBER 12:

SPECIAL MASTER

*sign* The wheels of justice sure turn slowly in the United States where SUPPOSEDLY "no man is above the law" -- especially when the Ku Klux Klan's Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump strives every day to morph that statement into "no man is above the law except Donald Trump." Of course, had the GQP not been so corrupt and/or spineless, they could have convicted him and removed him from office years ago -- but here we are.

Now, following the most corrupt presidential "administration" in our nation's history, we are still investigating his crimes, one of which involves the theft of top-secret classified documents that deal with our national defense (which, of ocurse, makes one wonder what Trump's plans were to do with such sensitive information).

After FBI agents executed a search warrant at Mar-a-lago, the first delay tactic the Imperial Grand Wizard cooeed up was to ask a federal court to appoint a special master to review the documents they had seized. The special master is to determine if any private documents were to be returned to Trump and/or if any contained privileged information that would be inadmissible to the case.

However -- a drum roll please -- there's been an update to the news of the appointment:

"A federal appeals court on Thursday terminated the special master review of documents seized from Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago property, paving the way for the justice department to regain access to the entirety of the materials for use in the criminal investigation surrounding the former president." Read more about this update HERE.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

CLASSIFIED: In typical spineless fashion, the GQP rushed to defend Imperial Grand Wizard Trump's with some incredibly twisted logic -- that not all information that is classified is really classified information.

Remember when Rudy Giuliani argued that "truth" is not really the truth? (HERE).

SPECIAL KEEPER: Shortly after news broke about Trump's Thanksgiving dinner with antisemite KanYE West and neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes, the Imperial Grand Wizard's chief of staff reported that a special keeper would be assigned to be with Trump at all times from now on:

"In an acknowledgment of the severity of the backlash and an effort to prevent a repeat, Trump’s campaign is putting new protocols in place to ensure that those who meet with him are approved and fully vetted, according to people familiar with the plans who requested anonymity to share internal strategy. The changes will include expediting a system, borrowed from Trump’s White House, in which a senior campaign official will be present with him at all times...." Info HERE.

In other words -- a babysitter.

DECEMBER 11:

OLIGARCH

When Vladimir Putin had the Russian military attack Ukraine, the US and our allies put into place sanctions meant to cripple Russia’s financial system and stymie its economic growth by targeting Russia's biggest banks, which the Treasury Department said holds nearly 80% of all the country's banking assets.

Sanctions were also put into place on Russian oligarchs to pressure Putin to end the war. In this case, HERE, NPR reported on an oligarch’s $325 million superyacht that was seized in Fiji.

While the sanctions were meant to target Putin and a list of individuals believed to be among his closest security advisers, NPR also noted in a separate article, HERE, that “the list is just as notable for who isn't on it — most of the top names from Forbes' list of the richest Russians whose multi-billion-dollar fortunes are now largely intertwined with the West, from investments in Silicon Valley start-ups to British Premier League soccer teams.”

Of course, while the sanctions have focused on Russian oligarchs, it’s also time to turn the focus onto the American oligarchs – the filthy rich (who just keep getting filthier and filthier) – who work with Trump and the GOP to subvert our democracy. Read more, HERE.

Pictured above right: The web of deceit within the Trump and Kushner Circle of Traitors.

Pictured below: American Oligarchs -- and the organization which helps them to maintain their power and sustain a society rooted in white superiority, the GOP (I'm reminded me of that line from The Sixth Sense, "I see dead people" -- or certainly lots of old white men).

DECEMBER 10:

MAGS

When the Ku Klux Klan’s Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump planned a coup to overthrow the US government, he knew that his Klansmen would bring weapons to Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021. However, when he realized that the Secret Service was screening for weapons with Magnetometers – known as MAGS -- he quickly realized that this security measure would diminish the prospects for success for his insurgents.

At the rally to rile his supporters and stir up the mood for violence, Trump demanded that the Secret Service “take the MAGS away":

“They’re not here to hurt me,” he barked. “Take the fucking MAGS away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here.”

Trump knew his followers had weapons, and he knew his planned coup d'état had a better chance for success if his followers were allowed to keep and carry their weapons.

Listen to testimony about Trump’s knowledge that his Klansmen had weapons and that he wanted to MAGS removed, HERE.

DECEMBER 9:

CAMPING

Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, social media has been flooded by posts from people offering to take people "camping" — coded language for assisting people seeking abortions out of state.

The posts follow similar coded language trends used by people trying to avoid algorithmic censorship on social media or potential detection by law enforcement.

I first learned of this when I read word-guru Nancy Friendman’s blog post from July 4, 2022:. Here is how her post begins:

“A private Facebook group, USA Camping Resource Center, doesn’t offer tips on tents, bedrolls, or water purifiers. Instead, it’s a hub for information about abortion access in post-Roe America. Camping is one of several authority- and algorithm-evading code words on social media used as substitutes for ‘abortion’; others include ‘fishing,’ ‘shoe-shopping,’ and ‘bookstore.’”

The complete post is HERE.

On a personal note, I did not come across "camping" or any other coded language this past year -- I wasn't looking nor had any need for it; however, I thought it important to include on our annual countdown as notice/warning that coded language is necessary in dangerous times when Fascists and neo-Nazis in the GQP and ultra-conservative religious zealots on the Supreme Court work to erode our rights, ban books, rewrite history, and censor language.

DECEMBER 8:

TESTICULAR TANNING

I am not making this up.

Last April Fox "News'" manly Tucker Carlson released a documentary called "The End of Men" where he offered a new solution for societal collapse: men should tan their balls.

Again, I am not making this up.

"Carlson endorsed the practice in the special as one of several ways men can return themselves to testosterone-fueled dominance, which the special argues is necessary for society to 'reestablish order' after collapse."

I reiterate: I am not making this up.

Read about it HERE.

I cannot stress enough: I am not making this up.

Click the pic at the right to view a trailer for the program -- or click HERE.

Be sure to check out the info offered at about a minute and half into the video.

Did I say that I'm not making this up?

I'm not making this up.

Pictured at the left: Tucker Carlson gets his balls tanned monthly at Tess Tickle's Tanning Salon in Buttzville, New Jersey.

Tess Tickle's runs a weekly BOGO special: Get one ball tanned at the regular price and get the other one tanned for free!

"KETCHUP" IS IN THE NEWS AGAIN!

If you've been following our countdown, then you know that "ketchup" made our list of "Words of the Year 2022" on December 2nd (scroll down to see).

Well, it turns out that "ketchup" has hit the news again as the pungent and popular condiment was flying last night at Mar-a-lago.

After three legal rulings against him on the same day -- and on the day that his hand-picked candidate Herschel Walker lost in the run-off election in Georgio (see the entry for December 6) -- Trump was tossing the tomato topping like Sandy Koufax. Housekeepers at Mar-a-lago said they couldn't clean the place quick enough before another blitz of the tomato jam would blotch the walls.

In related news, Palm Beach grocery stores have reported a significant shortage of ketchup on the shelves, and it was announced that hundreds of Heinz delivery trucks have been re-routed to Florida.

For more on this story, click HERE.

UPDATE: For info related to the Trump family history of throwing food, click HERE.

DECEMBER 7:

LESBIAN DANCE THEORY

If one were to crown the craziest clown in the GOP, the task would certainly prove to be ridiculously challenging if not impossible as there is just no end to the chaotic craziness and chicanery perpetrated the clowns under the Trump Big Top Circus. One clown who often takes the center ring spotlight is Colorado’s Lauren Boebert who last August yipped and yapped that Joe Biden is robbing hard working Americans to pay for Karen’s daughter’s degree in lesbian dance theory.

**sigh**

Alas, voters who support the RepubliQan party are dim enough that statements like this (a la 2016's “taco trucks on every corner” and the bi-annual “election-year caravans are on the way”)...

(a) make sense to them and
(b) frighten them.

The clowns in the GOP are fully aware of this; therefore, the craziness continues as the crazy clowns in the party attempt to out-crazy each other with crazy, crazier, and crazier than craziest canards, cover-ups, and cuckoo prevarications.

DID YOU KNOW: Did you know that ALL GOP candidates for office must attend a rigorous training at the PT Burn'em & Bully Clown College in Palm Beach, Florida? The "PT" stands for "President" Trump, as he is the founder and CEO of the for-profit clown college.

Pictured above on the right: Lauren Boebert was a 2019 "graduate" of the PT Burn'em & Bully Clown College.

Below on the left: 2022 GOP "graduates" (i.e., political candidates) from the PT Burn'em & Bully Clown College. Below on the right: The Ku Klux Klan's Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump and Third-Lady Malaria Trump greet each cohort of GOP candidates to the PT Burn'em & Bully Clown College in Palm Beach, Florida.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON "LESBIAN DANCE THEORY," CLICK HERE FOR AN ARTICLE FROM OUR PLOG ("Poetry Blog") ARCHIVES.

DECEMBER 6:

GOOD AIR / BAD AIR

There is a special run-off election today in Georgia where RepubliQan Herschel Walker is locked in a close battle against Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock -- and this race is so tight for one reason and one reason only: deep-rooted racism on the part of white voters in Georgia (and if I have to explain that to you, then you're likely "part of the problem" as the saying goes).

There is NO OTHER REASON why Walker is doing well in the polls.

Just ONE EXAMPLE of the inane comments from Walker is when he commented on why it was not a good use of money to tackle air pollution through the Democrats' "Green New Deal": "Since we don't control the air, our good air decided to float over to China's bad air, so when China gets our good air, their bad air got to move. So it moves over to our good air space. Then, now, we got we to clean that back up...No matter how much money we put into controlling our air, it goes over to China or to somewhere else, and it messes up, All of a sudden, it comes back over here."

SMH.

Don't get me started on his speech about the vampire movie -- you can Google-search that one for yourself.

We can only hope that the majority of Georgians will put country first and re-elect Raphael Warnock to the Senate.

Below left: Click the image below to listen Herschel Walker for yourself. Below right: Every time I hear Walker speak, I can't help but think of Miss. South Carolina's response to a pageant question from way back in 2007. Click the image to listen for yourself.

HONORABLE MENTION:

POLITICAL LARYNGITIS: A debilitating disease suffered by close to 100% of RepubliQans who refuse to speak out against the absurd, treasonous, and/or racist remarks which spew from the Ku Klux Klan's Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump. For example, just this past week Trump called for the termination of the US Constitution, and few have condemned him. Of course, members of the GOP could have convicted Trump and removed him from office after he'd been installed as our so-called "President," but RepubliQans have suffered from Political Laryngitis for many years. There seems to be no cure.

DECEMBER 5:

TRIPLEDEMIC

After nearly three years of being sequestered, children and adults are back out in crowds, with few if any masks, no social distancing, and viruses waiting with open arms, so the Center for Disease Control and other medical professionals are predicting a "tripledemic" this winter -- with increasing issues from a combination of RSV (respiratory syncytial virus), influenza (i.e., the flu), and the Trump Virus (COVID).

Pictured at the right: A close up of three viruses -- influenza, RSV and the Trump Virus (COVID).

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

RSV: Respiratory Syncytial Virus -- this year, CDC surveillance has shown an increase in RSV detections and RSV-associated emergency department visits and hospitalizations in multiple U.S. regions, with some regions nearing seasonal peak levels.

MONKEYPOX: Monkeypox includes a rash, which may look like pimples or blisters and is often associated with an earlier flu-like illness. The CDC has raised the alert level on a MPox (monkeypox) outbreak in the US this year, and the HHS ramped up testing and vaccine distribution.

STEALTH OMICRON: The Omicron variant of the Trump Virus emerged last January, and medical professionals reported that it spreads more easily than the original SARS-CoV-2 strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 and previous variants, including Delta. One particular variant was given the “stealth omicron” nickname because it looks like the earlier delta variant on certain PCR tests.

BIVALENT BOOSTER: An updated booster, also called a bivalent booster, is a vaccine that is designed to protect against two strains of a virus in a single shot., and this past September the CDC approved bivalent booster to fight different strains of the Trump Virus.

TRIPLE DIP LA NINA: A "triple-dip" La Niña is a multiyear colling of the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean which can cause droughts, fierce winds and heavy rainfall -- and thanks to global warming, 2022 experienced a "triple dip"! Hmm...do I hear a "quadruple dip" might be on the way? If so, it won't matter -- the GOP will block or stall any and all measures meant to deal with climate change.

DECEMBER 4:

"MY PRONOUNS ARE 'HE' BUT NOT 'HIM' 'CAUSE I WILL NEVER BE HIM"

“My Pronouns Are ‘He,’ Not ‘Him,’ Cause I'll Never Be Him" refers to a TikTok trend and catchphrase started by TikToker @nopotatoess in late 2021, and it has continued throughout 2022.

The joke in this craze is that the person sharing the meme shows himself completing some task (say dancing, cooking, playing volleyball or any other activity) and then includes a second video of some other, cooler guy out-performing the original individual.

Click the pic at the right to see a compilation of "My pronouns are 'He' 'cause I'll never be 'Him'" videos.

HONORABLE MENTION:

FAE: “’Neopronoun with a nod to folklore’: That was the 28-Across clue in the September 23, 2022, New York Times crossword, and until I completed the fill I was stumped.” So wrote word guru Nancy Friedman on her “Names, brands, writing, and the language of commerce” blog site, “Fritinancy” in late September 2022 (HERE).

I had recently seen a similar clue for a Washington Post Sunday crossword, and I too was stumped.

As you can see from the pic at the left from Friedman's post, the correct answer is FAE, and in her blog post, she noted that she'd found a 2007 Urban Dictionary entry for fae, (HERE) but it was for a noun (“Faes are otherwise known as fairies”).

However, there is a September 2021 entry as well for “Fae/faer/faer/faers/faerself” as a set of gender-neutral neopronouns. That UD definition is HERE.

DECEMBER 3:

"THE ELECTION IS OVER"

On January 7, 2021 -- the day after insurrectionists took orders from Imperial Grand Wizard Trump to storm the US Capitol -- many inside the White House realized that Trump needed to respond to the violence connected to his failed coup attempt.

Raw footage of the filming of this video was released this year to the United States House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, and in the film, the Klan's Imperial Grand Wizard refused to state that "The election is over."

Trump could not tell the truth -- partly because he cannot tell the truth (oddly the complete antithesis of George Washington who allegedly could not tell a lie) and partly because he preys upon the poorly educated and greatly misinformed MAGA morons -- and he knew he'd let them down if he admitted that he was, in fact, a loser.

Above: Outtakes from a prepared speech for the Klan's Imperial Grand Wizard Donald Trump on Jan. 7, 2021. in which he was supposed to say that the election he lost to Joe Biden was over. The video was played for the House committee investigating the attack.

HONORABLE MENTION:

YESTERDAY: In the same video linked above, Imperial Grand Wizard Trump admitted that he had trouble pronouncing the word "yesterday": "Yesterday's a hard word for me." How surprising since he can pronounce "hamburder" so easily!

Pictured at the left: A compilation of some of the Imperial Grand Wizard's best words!

DECEMBER 2:

KETCHUP

Last June, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top White House aide during the Trump “administration,” delivered a series of surprising revelations about the childlike behavior of the Imperial Grand Wizard before his planned attack on the US Capitol.

She stated that after then-Attorney General William Barr gave an interview to the Associated Press in December 2020 saying there was no widespread voter fraud, Trump was so enraged that he threw his plate of food at the wall, smearing it with ketchup.

“There was ketchup dripping down the wall and a shattered porcelain plate on the floor,” Hutchinson testified, noting that aides nearby conveyed the president was “extremely angry” at the Barr interview. She told the committee that she then grabbed a towel and started wiping the ketchup off the wall.

Trump and members of his Crime Family are VERY, VERY, VERY adept at stalling and delaying the legal process. This enables them to wear down the work of good people who are trying to hold criminals accountable for their actions.

Below is a tweet from @ZaleskiLue who summarized the (very predictable) stages of Trump's reactions when caught with breaking the law, and pictured at the right is a tweet from Michael Moore showing the released -- but heavily redacted -- affidavit following the FBI raid on Maralago (after Trump pilfered top secret national security documents).

HONORABLE MENTION:

CATSUP: You say "ketchup," I say "catsup" -- let's call the whole thing off kilter -- when a grown adult throws a plateful of food at a wall because people don't believe his Big Lie.

So when it comes to Trump's conniption fit, is it "ketchup" or "catsup"? TBH, it can be either. Info on both words is HERE. And imma be honest, this line from the linked article blew my mind: “The alternative spelling – catsup – popped up in a Jonathon Swift poem in 1730.”

Say whhhhaaa? I had to look that up, so I used my Google machine and found the poem -- a panegyric -- written by Swift in 1730, and it does indeed include the word “catsup.” To read the poem, click HERE.

DECEMBER 1:

#TWITTERMIGRATION

Melon Husk’s take over of Twitter has created nothing but chaos. For weeks now the social platform has spiraled out of control along with significant increases in misinformation and hate-speech. With the introduction of several controversial changes – including a monthly $8 fee for “verified” accounts – the firing of about 7,500 staff, including the top executives, and the decision to reinstate the account for Donald Trump, the Ku Klux Klan's Grand Wizard, the hashtag #TwitterMigration emerged as the top trend as millions of users abandoned the platform and joined other social media sites.

Pictured below: An early shot of the #Twittermigration soon after the platform's take over by Melon Husk. Click the image to enlarge.

Pictured above: Melon Husk's roasted Twitter bird -- shown with the Ku Klux Klan's Imperial Grand Wizard, Donald Trump.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

BLUE CHECK: Twitter's new owner Melon Husk initiated a new subscription plan for the platform where users could obtain blue checks for just 8.99 a month, and the site erupted into chaos as individuals created bogus accounts mimicking other real accounts. Info about the slew of fake accounts is HERE.

GRAY CHECK: Then, after a wave of impersonations, crude jokes, and memes (so many memes), Melon Husk instituted an additional gray checkmark on Twitter as an "official" designation for certain accounts -- as a way to do what the blue checkmark originally did to prove a user's identify. Within hours Husk decided that the official gray checkmark was no good. "I just killed it," he tweeted -- although I think it's back? I'm not sure as I'm now a TwitterRefugee on Counter Social.

TWITTERREFUGEE: A moniker given to former Twitter users who migrated to new social media platforms such as Mastodon and Counter Social.

TWEXIT: A twist on "Brexit" to characterize the Great Twitter Migration of 2022.

VERIFIED: Not only was Melon Husk's Twitter experiencing chaos with bogus verified accounts, so too was Ticketmaster with a bungled system for fans wanting to purchase advance tickets for an upcoming Taylor Swift tour: "The problems began Tuesday when Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system, which aims to weed out bots and professional scalpers from the process, began doling out access codes to fans who were interested in buying tickets to Ms. Swift’s Eras tour, scheduled to start in March." See the complete article HERE.

TO SEE LAST AND PREVIOUS YEARS' "WORDS OF THE YEAR" COUNTDOWNS, CLICK HERE.

OTHER WORDS OF THE YEAR FOR 2022:

American Dialect Society WotY: TDB

The American Dialect Society will vote on their Word of the Year for 2022 at their annual conference in Denver, CO, on Friday, January 6, 2023, at 5:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. Eastern). For info, click HERE.

Cambridge Dictionary WotY: HOMER

Information is HERE.

Collins Dictionary WotY: PERMACRISIS

Information is HERE.

Merriam Webster WotY: GASLIGHTING

Information is HERE.

Oxford Languages WotY: TBD

For the first time, OL is having the public vote on the Word of the Year. The choices are "#IStandWith," "Metaverse," and "Goblin Mode." Vote HERE.