The list of new words added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary is a real game changer this year! Over the last few years, people have found new ways to decorate their homes, express themselves, and refuel, and English dictionaries around the world have to keep up with the new words and phrases society’s come up with to describe them. If you haven’t put “improve my vocabulary” on your bucket list yet, what are you waiting for?

earworm
Helicoverpa zea is a moth whose larvae are known by various names, depending on what plant they’re eating: cotton bollworm, tomato fruitworm, and corn earworm. However, unless you’re a farmer, you’re probably more familiar with the “musical” earworm, a song or melody that gets stuck in your head, gnawing pathways through your brain like larva chewing through corn kernels, that you just can’t get rid of. The concept’s been around for over 150 years, but only recently found a name of its own.

gastropub noun
From fast food to fine French dining, authentic regional cuisine to molecular gastronomy and beyond, the world of food, like the world of words, is constantly changing. Given the current trend towards “back to the farm” simple, hearty cooking, and the fact that the global economic problems have made dining out a luxury, it’s not surprising that the gastropub is a growing trend. In the past, bar food was often limited to a bowl of peanuts or a run-of-the-mill sandwich, but these days there are gastropubs everywhere that combine inexpensive but high-quality and innovative cooking with the friendly ambiance of your local pub.

copernicium
523 years after the birth of the famous astronomer and mathematician Nicholas Copernicus, a group of scientists in Germany managed to create – briefly – several atoms of the highly radioactive element now called copernicium (coh-per-NEE-see-um). It’s now officially element 112 on the periodic table, and one of several substances that don’t really have any application (or in fact any existence, so far as we know) outside the laboratory, along with roentgenium, ununpentium, and darmstadtium.

One of the world’s worst earworms can be found at this link – click it if you dare!