Why We Turn to the Word 'Surreal' Whenever Something Terribl

Why We Turn to the Word 'Surreal' Whenever Something Terrible Happens
Time
1 hr ago
© Vincent Migeat—Agence VU/Redux
Following the terror attacks that took place Sept. 11, 2001, people across the country began searching Merriam-Webster’s online dictionary for the same word. The word was not “rubble,” or “triage,” or even “terrorism,” but “surreal.” And they did the same thing again after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. And again, after the Boston Marathon bombing.
In March 2020, when many cities were preparing for stay-at-home orders because of COVID-19, the fear and uncertainty of the moment surfaced in the dictionary’s top searches. People were looking up technical words, such as “pandemic,” “quarantine,” and “virus.” But they were also looking up philosophical ones: searches swelled for “apocalypse,” “Kafkaesque,” “martial law,” “calamity,” “pestilence,” “contagion,” “well-being,” “hysteria,” “hoarding,” “self-isolation,” “vulnerable,” “unprecedented,” “triage,” “essential,” or “poignant.” And of course: “surreal.”

Related Keywords

France , Spain , Boston , Massachusetts , United States , Spanish , French , Americans , American , Vincent Migeat , Peter Sokolowski , Agence Vu Redux , Noah Webster , Frederick Douglass , Guillaume Apollinaire , Sandy Hook Elementary School , Sandy Hook Elementary , Boston Marathon , Sandy Hook , Spanish Civil War , பிரான்ஸ் , ஸ்பெயின் , போஸ்டன் , மாசசூசெட்ஸ் , ஒன்றுபட்டது மாநிலங்களில் , ஸ்பானிஷ் , பிரஞ்சு , அமெரிக்கர்கள் , அமெரிக்கன் , பீட்டர் சொக்கொலோவ்ஸ்கி , நோவா வெப்ஸ்டர் , ஃப்ரெடரிக் டக்ளஸ் , கிலௌம் அப்பொல்லினைரே , மணல் கொக்கி தொடக்க பள்ளி , மணல் கொக்கி தொடக்க , போஸ்டன் மராத்தான் , மணல் கொக்கி , ஸ்பானிஷ் சிவில் போர் ,