Ripped from the Headlines: January 2024: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for January 13–January 19, 2024

A blast of frigid air led to record-breaking arctic conditions in the Midwest, South, and Northwest. The freezing temperatures moved from the Northern Plains states, sweeping as far south as Texas and the Gulf Coast. About 95 million people were affected by the dangerous cold, with wind chills dropping as low as -36°F in parts of Montana. The Greek root of arctic is arktikos, "of the north," or literally "of the Bear constellation," from a root meaning "bear."

North Korea tested a mid-range ballistic missile on January 14, firing the rocket from the capital city of Pyongyang into the Sea of Japan. This type of public missile launch is described by experts as "provocative," intended to influence elections in South Korea and the U.S. A ballistic weapon is launched upward with a rocket before curving down toward its target. The word ballistic is derived from the Greek ballein, "to throw."

Donald Trump won 51% of the vote in the Iowa Republican caucuses. Trump was declared the winner just half an hour after ballots were cast, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis coming in second. Fourth-place finisher Vivek Ramaswamy withdrew from the race. The Iowa caucuses are traditionally the first contest in the long process of nominating each party's presidential candidate. Unlike a primary, a caucus isn't officially an election, but a political meeting.

A growing number of transportation departments around the U.S. are giving their snowplows extremely creative nicknames. Some cities have held contests inviting residents to come up with inventive epithets for the plows, leading to sobriquets like "Chicken Plow Main," "Sleetwood Mac," "Ctrl Salt Delete," and "Ka-Plow!" Epithet is from the Greek epitheton, "something added," from roots meaning "to put" and "in addition."

The Federal Highway Administration has banned funny messages from electronic highway signs, saying they're distracting to drivers. States have up to two years to remove the humorous notices, including pop culture references and obscure jokes, and must limit the signs to imparting information in a "simple, direct, brief, legible, and clear" way. Fans of the comic messages are mourning the end of announcements like Boston's "Use yah blinkah" and New Jersey's "Hocus pocus, drive with focus."

Lai Ching-te, who has advocated for independence from China, won Taiwan's presidential election on January 13. The Chinese government, which doesn't officially rule Taiwan but claims the country as part of its territory, downplayed the results in its response to the election: "Taiwan is part of China." Lai plans to govern Taiwan with an emphasis on its self-sufficiency and separation from China, strengthening relations with democratic countries and promoting military reforms.

Slow-moving lava blocked roads and surrounded buildings in Grindavík, Iceland after a nearby volcano erupted on January 14. The hot molten rock flowed into the evacuated town, completely filling at least three empty houses. Officials say the eruption was contained to Grindavík and didn't threaten other towns. Lava is from an Italian word meaning "torrent or stream," and its Latin root lavare, "to wash."

On January 14, the Detroit Lions won their first NFL playoff game in more than thirty years The Lions defeated the Los Angeles Rams 24-23, the team's first postseason victory since 1992. Detroit will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFL divisional round on January 20. Playoff wasn't used in sports until the 1930s; earlier, it simply meant "finish completely."

The largest dam removal in U.S. history has begun in California. This week, gates were opened allowing the water from two reservoirs to be released and flow freely on the Klamath River. The enormous water basins have acted as barriers to salmon and other fish, and degraded the quality of water in the river. Tribal activists have called for the removal of the dams for decades. The Latin root of reservoir is reservare, "keep back or retain."

Dozens of tenants in San Francisco are staging a rent strike, using a labor union strategy against their landlords. The residents of 65 apartments in the Tenderloin neighborhood have refused to pay rent for up to eight months in protest of their living conditions. Issues that led the renters to strike include mold, unsafe electrical wiring, broken elevators, and cockroaches. Tenant, "person holding land by lease," is from a root meaning "to hold or grasp."

A woman who bought a Victorian dress at an antique store discovered a secret pocket with a mysterious note inside it. The vintage gown, made of silk and lace and featuring a bustle in the back, was made in the 1880s. Its buyer, Sara Rivers Cofield, soon discovered two pieces of paper with notes evidently handwritten in code. Online sleuths eventually determined that the mysterious messages were weather reports that used a common meteorological codebook from the late 19th century.

Oxfam America reported that the wealth of billionaires has grown at three times the rate of inflation since 2020. In contrast, during that same time period, five billion people have grown poorer. Oxfam calculated wealth by subtracting people's debts from the value of everything they own. In the 1400s, wealth simply meant "happiness," from a Middle English root, wele, "well-being." Today the word is distinctly connected with large amounts of money.