‘Word of the Year’ goes to…
One of the best things about language is that it is evolving all the time. However, not all change is for the better.
We learned this week that the phrase ‘Fake News’ has been voted ‘Word of the Year’ by Collins’, and will be included in 2018’s dictionary, thanks to US President Donald Trump’s determination to use the phrase at every possible opportunity!
Now firstly, at the risk of being pedantic, that’s two words. Secondly, it’s a sad day when a new addition to Collins Dictionary has been heavily influenced by Donald Trump. Unfortunately, it has been widely adopted, with use of the phrase seeing a huge 365% increase in 2017.
There’s no denying fake news exists. In fact, only this week one of our team was almost caught out by a spurious report about the young Prince George. However, we can’t help but fear that in Trump’s hands, the phrase is a smokescreen to detract from stories about him which are, in fact, depressingly true.
