To wrap up the year, I thought it might be fun to explore the Top 10 Words for 2022 in different media.
Top 10 Words According to Merriam-Webster
1: Gaslighting – as in psychological manipulation of a person, usually over an extended period of time, that causes the victim to question the validity of their own thoughts, perception of reality, or memories and typically leads to confusion, loss of confidence and self-esteem, uncertainty of one’s emotional or mental stability, and a dependency on the perpetrator. A more current, broader definition is the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one’s own advantage.
2: Oligarch – Where an oligarchy is a society ruled by the few, an oligarch is one member of a class of individuals who through private acquisition of state assets amassed great wealth that is stored especially in foreign accounts and properties and who typically maintain close links to the highest government circles
3: Omicron – The 15th letter of the Greek alphabet, Omicron was used by the World Health Organization in November 2021 to name the most recent version of the Covid19 virus that became one of the most widespread forms of Covid in 2022.
4: Endemic – as in a disease that is constantly present in a particular place.
5: Codify – A term referring to a process by which American Congress can make laws.
6: LGBTQIA – This expanded version of the acronym stands for: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning (one’s sexual or gender identity), intersex, and asexual/aromantic/agender.
7: Sentient – as in responsive to or conscious of sense impressions, which is generally considered to define a human-like consciousness.
8: Loamy – as in consisting of loam, a soil consisting of a friable mixture of varying proportions of clay, silt, and sand.
9: Raid – as in a sudden invasion by officers of the law, such as that performed on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
10: Queen Consort – as in the wife of the reigning King, rather than the female successor to the throne, who would be the Queen.
Top 10 Words I Use on Twitter
I’ve been tweeting a lot this past year, mainly about work-related medical writing and language, but I’ve also become more vocal about local health-care and political news. A review of the ten words I repeat the most on Twitter by toasteed.com gave this list:
1: Question – I suppose it’s a good thing to ask questions as a scientist.
2: #TuesdayTrivia – Each Tuesday I run a Twitter poll, for fun and to learn a little something.
3: Poll – See #2.
4: Results – Each Thursday I post the results of the Tuesday poll.
5: Read – I read a LOT, mainly for work. No surprise this shows up on Twitter.
6: #AcademicTwitter – I often tag AcademicTwitter on my posts, particularly when sharing my latest blog post, or when I find useful information about scientific writing.
7: Books – Since I read a lot, it makes sense I tweet about books.
8: Wednesday’s – Each Wednesday I post a new blog on my website and tweet about it.
9: #WeeklyWritingTip – The name of the blog I post each Wednesday. I hope my readers find it helpful and/or fun.
10: Left – Hmm, not sure where this came from? I’ll have to pay more attention in the future.
Top 10 Words in My Weekly Writing Tips
I was curious to see which words I used most frequently in the Weekly Writing Tips this year. An analysis of the blogs resulted in these most frequently used words:
10: Review, reviewed, or reviewing – Not surprising, as several blogs this year discussed elements of your manuscript that reviewers and journals consider.
9: Results – Reporting the results of a research project is what it’s all about.
8: Data – I expected this word to show up. The data make up your results (another Top 10 word). And I wrote a full blog on whether “data” is singular or plural.
7: Abstract – An essential summary of your research project, and the first (and sometimes only) part of your manuscript that is read. That’s why I devoted a full blog to Writing Abstracts That Get Accepted.
6: Word – Words make up the written page. Naturally this will show up frequently on a website about medical writing.
5: Manuscript – Of course!
4: Study – The noun, and its plural form, studies. We write manuscripts to share the results of our study. It’s only fitting this word appears on the list.
3: Papers – Not the wood pulp product, but a more casual term for “manuscripts”.
Tied at 2:
Use – The verb, along with its past tense “used”. Lots of recommendations of what to use, when to use it, and how to use it, are sprinkled throughout my blogs.
Write – The verb in its many different forms: write, writes, writing, written. Makes sense this word shows up a LOT, especially in blogs on how to write abstracts and cover letters.
And finally, the #1 word that showed up most frequently in my blogs: Journal. Those results need to get published somewhere, so that we can share the results of our studies, our research, our livelihood, our passion. I spent a lot of time this year discussing the journals – how to choose a journal for publication, reasons for journal rejection, and more. It’s only fitting that Journal is the #1 word in my 2022 blogs.
Looking forward to seeing which words become the mainstays of my Weekly Writing Tips in 2023. As always, I welcome suggestions for future topics.
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