Nothing New in Fake News
Posted by: Josef Essberger
fake news (noun): false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting
Thus does dictionary publisher Collins define the term fake news, which they have named as Word of the Year for 2017.
Popularized more by President Donald Trump of the USA than by anyone else, fake news has been used 365% more in 2017 according to Collins. And indeed President Trump has made commenting about Fake News on Twitter something of a hobby.
But despite all the attention that fake news is getting these days, it is nothing new. Fake news has been a weapon of war among other things for millennia, perhaps ever since Mankind first learned to lie.
Still, listing fake news as Word of the Year in 2017 serves a useful promotional purpose for Collins; and other publishers also serve up words of the year for their own commercial reasons (often abbreviating Word of the Year as WOTY or WotY).
Posted by Josef Essberger November 2017
Contributor: Josef Essberger, founder of EnglishClub. Originally from London, England, Josef is the author of several books for learners of English including English Prepositions List and Learn English in 7.