President Donald Trump’s favorite phrases, “fake news”, has been named “word of the year” by dictionary publisher Collins.
Announcing the winner, U.K.-based Collins Dictionary said the term “fake news” saw an “unprecedented” rise with usage of the term increasing 365 percent since 2016.
Defining “fake news” as meaning “false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting,” Collins said the word had come top of its annual assessment of the most used words in the English language and will now have its own entry in next year’s dictionary.
The term has become synonymous with Trump who has used the phrase repeatedly to criticize the media, particularly during his now infamous Twitter rants, and what he perceives to be inaccurate reporting
Trump claimed in a recent interview that he had coined the phrase, reportedly telling Mick Huckabee in an interview that:
“I guess other people have used it (the term ‘fake’ in conjunction with ‘media’) perhaps over the years, but I’ve never noticed it. And it’s a shame. And they really hurt the country,” he said.
Previous Collins’ Word of the Year Winners include;
2016 – Brexit: Noun meaning “the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union”.
2015 – Binge-watch: Verb meaning “to watch a large number of television programmes (especially all the shows from one series) in succession”.
2014 – Photobomb: Verb meaning “spoiling a photograph by stepping in front of them as the photograph is taken, often doing something silly such as making a funny face”.
2013 – Geek: Countable noun meaning “someone who is skilled with computers, and who seems more interested in them than in people”.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
