The Words of the Week - July 18
Dictionary lookups from social media, the weather, and New Zealand
‘Ratio’
Lookups for ratio were higher than usual this week, likely due to prominent use of the slang verb on social media.
President Donald Trump’s weekend post defending Attorney General Pam Bondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files has triggered an unprecedented backlash, marking the first time the Republican has been “ratioed” on his own social media platform, Truth Social. … The post—lengthy, defensive, and directed at his own base—appears to have backfired. According to public engagement data archived from Truth Social, the post has garnered more than 36,000 replies, compared with nearly 11,000 re-truths (the platform's term for shares) and 32,000 likes as of 10:45 a.m. ET Sunday.
—Jordan King, Newsweek, 13 July 2025
The social media use of ratio shows linguistic creativity in action; it is an instance of a noun—the noun ratio, meaning “the relationship in quantity, amount, or size between to or more things”—taking on verb use. (The verb ratio is not entered in our official dictionary, but we are monitoring its development and address it in our Slang & Trending section.) Broadly, this ratio means “to give considerably more negative than positive responses on a social media post.” A social media post—as on X, Facebook, or other platforms (such as Truth Social)—is said to have been ratioed when it has received more comments and reposts than likes, implying that it was tremendously unpopular. In other words, to ratio a post is to (collectively) give it more comments or reposts than likes or favorites. Ratio can also mean “to receive more downvotes than upvotes” on websites where such on-screen icons are an option. In the dog-eat-dog world of social media, to be ratioed is usually considered humiliating, unless the account being ratioed views the opprobrium of their intellectual opponents as a badge of honor. Nevertheless, ratio tends to carry a whiff of schadenfreude.
‘Hoax’
Hoax was also trending higher this week after President Trump used the term to refer to the Epstein case.
President Trump on Wednesday bashed “PAST supporters” for their focus on what he called the “Jeffrey Epstein Hoax” amid ongoing scrutiny of his administration’s handling of evidence in the notorious Epstein’s case.
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We define two senses of the noun hoax: “an act intended to trick or dupe” and “something accepted or established by fraud or fabrication.” The word is probably a contraction of hocus, as in “hocus pocus.”
‘Enigma’
Enigma was yet another top lookup this week related to reporting about President Trump’s relationship with Jeffrey Epstein.
President Donald Trump sent a salacious birthday message to Jeffrey Epstein that included a risqué hand-drawn picture of a naked woman with a cryptic message inside, according to a new report. Trump has vehemently denied the allegations published in The Wall Street Journal that he took part in a 50th birthday album organized for the disgraced billionaire by his associate Ghislaine Maxwell. … The alleged letter reportedly contained an imaginary conversation between Epstein and Trump, written in third person. In the imaginary conversation, ‘Donald’ writes: ‘We have certain things in common, Jeffrey’, to which ‘Jeffrey’ replies: ‘Yes we do, come to think of it.’ ‘Donald’ then responds: ‘Enigmas never age, have you noticed that’, and imaginary ‘Jeffrey’ says ‘as a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you.’
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We define three senses of enigma, which comes from the Greek verb ainissesthai, meaning “to speak in riddles”: “something hard to understand or explain,” “an inscrutable or mysterious person,” and “an obscure speech or writing.”
‘Flash flood’
Lookups for flash flood have been higher than usual this week amidst a number of flash flooding events across the United States.
There have been multiple flash floods across the United States since the start of July, including a deadly torrent of water that rushed through Central Texas, and others that led to emergencies in New Mexico, North Carolina and Chicago.
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We define flash flood as “a local flood of short duration generally resulting from heavy rainfall in the immediate vicinity.” The earliest known use of flash flood in print dates to the mid-20th century.
‘Kiwi’
Kiwi enjoyed higher-than-usual lookups after a species of kiwi was found in New Zealand for the first time in half a century.
Conservationists are delighted after a unique kiwi was rediscovered in Aotearoa for the first time in 50 years. The little spotted kiwi, or kiwi pukupuku, was first spotted in the remote Adams Wilderness Area in the West Coast by a Department of Conservation (DoC) hunter. It prompted DoC biodiversity ranger Iain Graham, alongside his conservation dog Brew, to fly in to locate the bird. “I heard kiwi calling the first night—two of them duetting—and immediately knew they didn’t sound like other kiwi. It was exciting, but it took a few days to narrow down the area,” Graham said.
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Kiwi refers to any of a small genus (Apteryx) of flightless New Zealand birds with rudimentary wings, stout legs, a long bill, and grayish brown hairlike plumage. Kiwi is also used as a nickname for natives or residents of New Zealand, and for the edible fruit of a Chinese gooseberry having a fuzzy brown skin and slightly acidic typically green flesh. Kiwi was borrowed into English from Maori.
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Clafouti’
Clafouti, sometimes spelled clafoutis, comes from—surprise!—French and refers to a dessert consisting of a layer of fruit (such as cherries or apples) topped with batter and baked. Fun to say, fun to eat, and sometimes that’s more than enough to be worth knowing.
The cherry clafoutis is to share, a spontaneous act of generosity from the kitchen, hearty and delicate at the same time. It wears a jaunty hat of Chantilly cream.
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