"Pragmatic"

Speranza

From M. Quinion's World Wide Words:

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WORDS OF THE YEAR This week, it was the turn of publisher Merriam-
Webster to pick one. It chose "pragmatic". A curious choice, you
might think, since it doesn't directly apply to any event of 2011.
The publisher selected it because it was the word most often looked
up in its online dictionary during the year. There were two peaks,
one in the weeks before the US Congress voted in August to increase
the nation's debt ceiling, and again as its supercommittee tried to
craft deficit-cutting measures this autumn. John Morse, the firm's
president, suggested it sparked dictionary users' interest because
it captures the current American mood of encouraging practicality
over frivolity. Most people who recorded a reason for looking it up
said that they wanted to confirm that it was meant positively.

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WORLD WIDE WORDS ISSUE 767 Saturday 17 December 2011
Author/editor: Michael Quinion US advisory editor: Julane Marx
ISSN 1470-1448