These are the top dictionary words searched at colleges across the country
What's going on at Boise State?


At Villanova they want to know about autonomy, and at Stanford they're looking up blithe. This interactive map from Dictionary.com shows the most popular word lookups from a range of colleges across the country.
Duke: Deacons
South Carolina: Sociopath
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kentucky: Academia
UCLA: Egregious
Wichita State: Serendipity
Ohio State: Bold
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
NYU: Courtesy
Alabama: Maelstrom
Michele Turner, CEO of Dictionary.com, explains that "while many searches from college students look at words you'd expect to see for homework or research, such as effect and affect, we saw vastly different searches from students once we drilled down on specific areas of the country. This shows that the issues affecting each campus are very different."
Kind of makes you wonder what's going on at Boise State (cauliflower) and the University of Wyoming (gag).
Arika Okrent is editor-at-large at TheWeek.com and a frequent contributor to Mental Floss. She is the author of In the Land of Invented Languages, a history of the attempt to build a better language. She holds a doctorate in linguistics and a first-level certification in Klingon. Follow her on Twitter.
-
‘Mental health care is health care’
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
6 Broadway shows coming to a local theater near you
The Week Recommends Harry Potter makes an appearance. As do the wives of Henry VIII.
-
Judge rejects top state charges in Mangione case
Speed Read If convicted, Mangione faces up to life in state prison