It's the final days of 2022, which means it's time for website Dictionary.com to name their "Word of the Year," and this year the site has made quite an impression with its selection.
It seems the people at Dictionary.com have become as exasperated with Republicans' constant attempts to attack gender diversity as the rest of us.
Or, perhaps they just wanted to be helpful! In any case, they've used the "Word of the Year" to help the right-wing with that pesky bugaboo of theirs, the definition of the word "woman."
Republicans have repeatedly attempted to "gotcha" transgender people and liberals who support the LGBTQ+ community by asking them to define the word "woman" in congressional hearings, on TV and at basically any other opportunity they can get their hands on.
They need wonder no more, because Dictionary.com has taken care of it for them.
\u201c\u201cThis year, the very matter of the definition of the word \u2018woman\u2019 was at the center of so many consequential moments, discussions, and decisions in our society.\u201d \n\n\u2013John Kelly, https://t.co/OeJELgPEQj Senior Director of Editorial on the 2022 #WordOfTheYear\nhttps://t.co/f3rwuFJrDc\u201d— Dictionary.com (@Dictionary.com) 1670979600
In its own article on the announcement, Dictionary.com called the word "woman" " inseparable from the story of 2022" after searches for the word spiked by as much as 1400% during certain times of the year.
Most notably, the spike occurred during a March confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson during which Republican Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn tried to back Jackson into a corner by asking if she can define "woman."
Jackson refused to take the bait, replying that she was unable to define the word because she is "not a biologist."
Other Republicans like far-right extremist Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, failed Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker and disgraced former North Carolina Representative Madison Cawthorn have played similar rhetorical games in 2022.
And the Daily Wire's self-professed "theocratic fascist" commentator Matt Walsh has spent much of the year promoting his film What Is A Woman?, a transphobic polemic Walsh claims is a "documentary" that features interviews with transgender people who were tricked into appearing in the film.
Dictionary.com went on to subtly reference these debates in its announcement.
It wrote:
“Our selection of woman as our 2022 Word of the Year reflects how the intersection of gender, identity, and language dominates the current cultural conversation and shapes much of our work as a dictionary."
On Twitter, many applauded Dictionary.com for its handling of the debate.
\u201cThank you https://t.co/7YooTZxxt3!\u201d— Julia Simone Fogelson (@Julia Simone Fogelson) 1672176271
\u201cSolid choice.\u201d— fiona wren (@fiona wren) 1670979693
\u201c..@Dictionarycom has selected the word \u201cwoman\u201d as the word of the year for numerous reasons, citing that 2022 is inseparable from the word woman. \n\nI wish it had included that all self-respecting women have dispelled @MarshaBlackburn from the vagina club.\u201d— Pam Resists\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83d\udc94\ud83d\udc94\ud83d\udc94 (@Pam Resists\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83d\udc94\ud83d\udc94\ud83d\udc94) 1671544626
\u201c@Out5p0ken Woman; A person who is sick and tired of being treated like a 2nd class citizen.\u201d— Outspoken\u2122\ufe0f (@Outspoken\u2122\ufe0f) 1671544512
\u201c#TransWomenAreWomen\u201d— Con Meo\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f, Trans Rights Activist (@Con Meo\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f, Trans Rights Activist) 1672012781
\u201cMaybe in the new year we can focus a little less on trying to define what each of those words mean for others and just focus on making ourselves the best human beings possible.\nI'd like to think that a lot of things might take care of themselves if we did that more.\u201d— Recluse_333 (@Recluse_333) 1672160725
\u201cRepublicans will still keep asking what a woman is\u201d— Sam \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f (@Sam \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f) 1672173383
\u201c@CNN There\u2019s nothing wrong with the definition, whether you were assigned female at birth or discovered you were female later. And adult female is a woman.\u201d— CNN (@CNN) 1671368468
\u201cWords build worlds\n\nhttps://t.co/XZ3kAET1O3's word of the year is "woman" after Republicans spent 2022 unable to define it - LGBTQ Nation https://t.co/SzSsJR8EuV\u201d— Bill McLellan (he/him) ADHD, ASD, M.Div. (@Bill McLellan (he/him) ADHD, ASD, M.Div.) 1672184035
Dictionary.com went on to say that unlike the Republican Party, it recognizes it " is not the last word on what defines a woman."
Rather, it writes:
“The word belongs to each and every woman—however they define themselves.”
Hear, hear.
