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SearchResearch Challenge (11/16/16): What does *that* mean?

Dan Russell • November 16, 2016
 SearchReSearch
Republished with permission from SearchReSearch
SearchResearch Challenge (11/16/16): What does *that* mean? Dan Russell
We've just emerged...

... from a long and difficult election season that was full of seemingly endless stream of articles about the candidates, their positions, where the culture is heading, and whether or not we should consider moving to Canada.

One of the things that happens during a busy news cycle is that you'll hear (or read) terms and phrases that you might not quite understand. That's partly because people whip up new terms as a way of creating catchphrases, but also because the language of politics isn't something most of us deal with everyday, so some of these ideas are a bit rare.

But you're a SearchResearcher! So I'm willing to bet you looked these up as part of your normal behavior.



Still, here are a few terms that came up over the past few months that I thought it would be useful to spot-check for understanding. This is our Challenge for the week:

What do each of these terms mean in the current political context?

1. "anchor baby"
2. servergate
3. braggadocious
4. clickbait
5. SEO
6. "dog whistle"

How many of these did you hear over the past few months?

How many of them do you know off the top of your head? And which did you have to look up? (Yes, I know what a "dog whistle" is per se, but what does it mean when someone says during the election that"This ad represents the worst example of a dog whistle..")

Did any other terms or phrases appear over the past couple of political months that you had to specifically look up?

Be sure to tell us what you did to understand these terms and phrases.

Search on!

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About the Author

Dan RussellDan Russell

I study the way people search and research. I guess that makes me an anthropologist of search. While I work at Google, my blog and G+ posts reflects my own thoughts and not those of my employer. I am FIA's Future-ist in Residence. More »

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