Ripped from the Headlines: September 2024: This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 21–September 27, 2024

Among young boys and teens, an unusual haircut known as the alpaca has become wildly popular, thanks to its ubiquity on social media. Along with a similar style called the broccoli, the alpaca features a mop of curls on top, the back and sides cropped short. Barbers describe it as resembling not just its namesake's floppy tufts of hair, but also "a mop sitting on top of the head." Various online influencers sport the cut, as well as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

Congressional leaders acted to avert a government shutdown by agreeing to a deal on a short-term funding bill. Republicans compromised on the agreement, removing a requirement that Americans show proof of citizenship in order to vote. If the bill had not passed by a September 30 deadline, federal agencies wouldn't have had the funds they need to function; this agreement temporarily avoids that possibility. Avert is from a Latin root that means "to turn away."

Israel's bombardment of Lebanon on September 23rd and 24th killed more than 500 people. It was the deadliest day in the country in two decades, following a year in which Israel often traded fire with the militant group Hezbollah. The Israeli military bombed more than 1,000 targets they said were Hezbollah strongholds. Hezbollah has returned fire and stated that it won't stop until a Gaza ceasefire is declared. Bombardment is from bombard, originally "catapult."

The autumnal equinox arrived on September 22, marking the first day of fall in the Northern Hemisphere. Astronomical fall began officially at 8:43 a.m. Eastern Time, the moment when the sun was directly over the equator. Halfway between the summer and winter solstices, the fall equinox is one of two days each year when day and night are nearly equal (the other is the spring equinox). The Latin roots are aequus, "equal," and nox, "night."

A tourist's leg was badly burned after she left a marked trail and approached the geyser at Yellowstone National Park. The New Hampshire woman had entered a thermal area close to the famous hot spring, which periodically erupts in a hot gush, when she broke through the thin crust to the scalding water below. Geyser is from the Icelandic Geysir, a specific hotspring with the literal name "the gusher."

A man who was kidnapped as a child in 1951 was found living on the East Coast. Using DNA and online newspaper stories, family members managed to track down 79-year-old Luis Armando Albino, who lives under another name. Albino was just six when he was snatched from an Oakland, California park by a stranger. He reunited with members of his birth family, and an investigation will continue. Originally thieves' slang, kidnap is from nap, "seize or nab."

Marxist lawmaker Anura Kumara Dissanayake won Sri Lanka’s presidential election on September 21, ousting the previous government, which he accused of destroying the country's economy. Dissanayake was especially popular with young voters, who admired his campaign's support for the working class, emphasis on economic equality, and disdain for political elites. Dissanayake's political activism began when he joined the Socialist Students’ Union as a college undergraduate.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani reached a major baseball milestone, topping 50 home runs and 50 steals in a season. Ohtani hit his 51st homer in the ninth inning of a game against the Miami Marlins, also managing to steal two bases during the first two innings. This is just the latest of several landmark achievements in Ohtani's career. A milestone was originally a stone that marked each mile of a road, so travelers could see how far they'd gone.

The shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant in Pennsylvania will reopen to generate electricity for Microsoft. The Pennsylvania facility was the site of a 1979 partial meltdown of one of its reactors, the worst such accident in U.S. history. There has been a renewed interest in power generated by nuclear fission, the splitting of a uranium atom's nucleus. Microsoft's data centers require vast amounts of electricity.

British men have been wrapping baby slings around well-known male statues in London to help raise awareness of the country's paternity leave policies. Life-sized baby dolls were attached to statues of actors Laurence Olivier and Gene Kelly, as well as monuments to various soccer stars. Fathers in the UK get just two weeks of low-paid leave to care for new babies. The Latin root of paternity is pater, "father."

The Biden administration proposed a ban on Chinese and Russian car parts to protect drivers from "disruption and sabotage." The rule would affect auto technology like Bluetooth, satellite systems, and driverless car hardware and software. National security officials worry that malware secretly installed on such systems could deliberately interfere with cars' functioning and be used to steal U.S. drivers' data.

Cards Against Humanity sued SpaceX, accusing the aerospace company of trespassing on land owned by the game maker. The lawsuit says SpaceX contractors cleared vegetation, laid gravel, parked vehicles, and stored construction materials on private property. The land in question is on the Texas-Mexico border. It was purchased by the game company in 2017 as a protest against then-President Trump's proposed border wall. Trespass is from Latin roots meaning "step beyond."