Peter Sokolowski, an editor at large with Merriam-Webster, wowed spellers Monday morning with a lecture about the dictionary's history and trending words:
- Noah Webster changed the spelling of British words -- he was a patriot, and wanted America to have its own spellings.
- The dictionary recently added words like "selfie," "unfriend" and "hashtag" -- along with others, such as "poutine," "paywall" and "fracking" -- largely because of new technology. In 1898, when "hello" was added, it came about because of new technology, too. The word was created as a way to greet people you couldn't see, thanks to the telephone.
- In 1997, when Princess Diana died, people looked up "paparazzi," "cortege" and "princess." On Sept. 11, 2001, it was "rubble," "triage," "terrorism," "jingoism," "succumb" and "surreal." After Michael Jackson's death, it was "stricken," "resuscitate," "RIP," "condolences," "icon" and "emaciated." In fact, "emaciated" was the second-most looked up word of the year.
- The two most looked up words in the dictionary are "affect" and "effect." Other commonly looked up words include "pragmatic," "conundrum" and "paradigm."
- "Love" spikes every year on Valentine's Day. "Qi" -- a popular Scrabble word -- pops around 11 p.m. each night.
"People come to the dictionary looking for answers," Sokolowski said.
Amy Maldonado -- Speller 42, from Naples, Florida -- thought it was interesting that people looked up words they knew, like "love." She's been using the dictionary to study for the Bee, of course, but also for words she doesn't remember.
Already, Amy said, she's having a good time.
"It's really cool, it's surreal," she said. "I still haven't processed the fact that I'm here."
Manav Thadani, Speller 250 from St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, was intrigued by the words that trended in certain time periods.
Razeen Basunia, Speller 220 from Summerville, South Carolina, said it was the consistent popularity of "qi" and Noah Webster's patriotism that were most interesting to him.
And Matthew Prus, Speller 227 from Cohutta, Georgia thought it was neat that there were so many words out there to learn.
He first heard the word "turducken" -- a new entry to the dictionary -- in the movie "Free Birds," he said.
"Some words are kind of crazy," Matthew said.
