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Merriam-Webster's List of Top Word Lookups on Father's Day Took an Unexpectedly Dark Turn

Well, that's disturbing.

Todd Beeton
By Todd BeetonJun 18, 2018
Todd Beeton
Todd Beeton is the Editor-in-Chief for The Social Edge. Before that, he served as Digital Director for Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's campaign, directing her social media content and strategy over four election cycles. During the 2008 election, Todd blogged about the presidential election as a front page blogger and editor for MyDD.com, a national progressive political site.
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The Twitter account for Merriam-Webster's online dictionary likes to update readers with what words people are looking up most on certain days, most notably, on days when major events occur.

For example, as Donald Trump's summit with Kim Jong Un was happening in Singapore:

After Donald Trump gave Alice Johnson clemency:

And during the Royal Wedding:

This year, the online dictionary decided to share what the top lookups on Father's Day were, and, well...

the list took an unexpectedly dark turn:

Yes, one of the most looked up terms on Merriam-Webster's online dictionary yesterday was "concentration camp."

Dictionary.com found a similar spike in searches for the phrase:

No doubt it is related to the fact that on Father's Day, the story of children being detained by our government was trending in the news.

Many found this quite disturbing:

Although some were cheering the dictionary for calling it out:

This about sums it up:

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