Glazomania is our fascination with making lists. A habit that is sometimes considered a useful tool to be more efficient and even to reduce the level of stress, since it works as an element of anticipation and control. Our obsession with lists (of wishes, of goals, of pending tasks...) is complemented by the imperative need to embrace complexity and uncertainty with synthesis and essence. We look for the keywords so that the lists are efficient.
Probably because of all this, we feel more and more curious about the word of the year, past or coming. An interest that goes far beyond the academies or institutions linked to languages and their dictionaries, such as the Royal Spanish Academy, the Fundación del Español Urgente (Fundéu), The Oxford Dictionary, The Cambridge Dictionary or The Collins Dictionary, among others, who have promoted this phenomenon.
A recent article from Politico, a near-cult publication of elaborate and grounded thought, titled What Is the Idea (or Word) That Will Define 2024?, gathers the opinions of four of its experts on what the key issues will be this year.
Ivo Daalder talks about isolationism in the United States, focusing on the internal debate about the country's global role. Mujtaba Rahman focuses on the global impact of the upcoming European elections, in the United States and the United Kingdom, in the context of this great election year. Elisabeth Braw, on the other hand, focuses on the search for peace, in a world full of conflicts. And, finally, Nathalie Tocci addresses the fracture of the world order due to crises such as climate change or regional conflicts. Each of these experts brings a unique perspective on global challenges and dynamics. It is a small and short dictionary of the future and the present.
A single word is polysemic despite its brevity. It is covered with precision and ambiguity at the same time. Perhaps this is also where the appeal of the proposal comes from. Can we illustrate a year with one word? It is the victory of short thinking over analytical hyperbole. The victory of judgment over description. The victory of the label over doubt or approximation.
