Kicker: The real word of the year

NICK EICHER, HOST: Merriam-Webster has announced its word of the year. Last year, it was “gaslighting.”

This year, it’s “authentic.” As in, not an imitation. As in, true to one’s personality, spirit, or character.

Merriam-Webster determines its word of the year by looking for spikes in online searches along with correlating events. For example, businessman Elon Musk said people should be more authentic on social media, that caused a spike.

So did singer Taylor Swift’s saying she was looking for her authentic voice.

What’s interesting is a few runners up are kind of opposites: Deepfake. Dystopian.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Yeah. Somebody said online: “Authentic is a word of the past. Synthetic is the new and true now and Pathetic is where we’re headed.”

It’s The World and Everything in It.

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