December is the month we measure the year as if counting with an abacus. But no worries, at least as far as words are concerned: the newly-coined ones that get most frequently mentioned usually don’t give us too much of headache. Although they come charging through the palisades, they generally consist in the name of one’s sweetheart or of a new baby. However there are other words marching on history too. Last December Pantone predicted that “Very Peri”, the ultimate shade of periwinkle, was going to be the colour of the year. On the other hand, that doesn’t mean it has been the most searched term during the past 12 months – nor has “war”, for that matter.
Ever heard of “Wordle”? That’s the one, according to Google’s Year in Search overview. Wordle is an online game in which you have to guess a five-letter English word; it has been so popular with users that it is included in the New York Times subscription package. It seems that hitting the right combination raises serotonin levels. Wordle leaves Google 2022 slightly more “war-less”.
After all, if this year’s war tactics have at times seemed closer to gambling than anything else, we feel we can risk taking this to another level and, for good measure, even imagine deploying our cannon to conquer Kamchatka… in a game of Risk. It may be an exercise of pure make-believe, but at least we can call it a measured war scenario.