The Crying of Lot 49. "Them, we can talk about." What could fuel a livelier conversation—religion and politics notwithstanding? Them are easy to pick in December because the dictionary companies do the winnowing and choose a Word of the Year (WOTY). Says Oxford Dictionary about the deliberations: "Every year, we choose a winner that is judged to reflect the ethos, mood or preoccupations of that particular year and to have lasting potential as a word of cultural significance." Them are usually words worth talking about, I find. Collins Dictionary's 2020 WOTY is "lockdown." The noun was coined in 1973 to describe a temporary, doors-locked restriction imposed on prison inmates in emergencies. This year, countless people have had their workaday lives constrained by lockdowns designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. People are feeling imprisoned and resentful.