They really put their whole lexussy into this. The suffix "-ussy" has been named the 2022 American Dialect Society's word of the year. Over 200 attendees voted in an event coinciding with the Linguistic Society of America's annual meeting, and they’re not pussyfooting around the word’s origin. Similarly, in 1998, the prefix "e-" (as in email) was chosen as word of the year.

Guns have more rights in this country than people. A six-year-old boy shot and wounded a teacher at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News, Virginia last week. The teacher, who is in her 30s, suffered life-threatening injuries but has shown some improvement in the hospital. Nobody’s sure how the boy acquired the handgun used in the shooting, which was preceded by an "altercation" in the classroom.

Wow, you can arrest people for doing an insurrection on the same day? Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro broke into the country's congressional building, Supreme Court, and presidential palace on Sunday, leading to the arrests of at least 400 people. Brazil’s newly inaugurated President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, took office last week after defeating Bolsonaro in a runoff election on October 30. Bolsonaro still has not explicitly conceded.

This will definitely improve readability. Twitter claims that it will allow long-form tweets of up to 4,000 characters starting in early February, in an effort to give users more flexibility to express themselves and allow for more in-depth discussions on the platform. Expecting users to write lengthy essays on a platform that could disappear at any moment, taking all of the author’s work with it? Another example of technology trying to replace the role of journalists.

More characters, fewer workers. Twitter, now owned by Elon Musk, made further cuts to the team responsible for global content moderation and to its unit dealing with hate speech and harassment, according to Bloomberg. The cuts, which affected employees in the company's Dublin and Singapore offices, came on Friday night. Meanwhile, employees fired over the last few months have finally received their official severance agreements, but the compensation is reportedly less than expected and the emails are being sent to spam folders. Musk previously said the company would not have any further layoffs … back in November.

In one month, everything will change. Rebecca Black, who gained fame with her viral hit song "Friday" a decade ago, is set to release her debut album on February 9. The album is Black's first full-length release, and previews have been actually quite good! 

Fade out. The highly respected and accomplished cinematographer Owen Roizman passed away last week at the age of 86. Roizman, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on The French Connection and The Exorcist, also worked on a number of other notable films including Network, Tootsie, Wyatt Earp, The Heartbreak Kid, and The Addams Family. In 2017, Roizman received an Academy Honorary Award in recognition of his contributions to the film industry. 

Maybe the real Ender Dragon was the friends we fucked over along the way. Writer Julian Gough has shared his account of writing the poem at the end of the popular game Minecraft and his subsequent struggle with Microsoft. According to Gough, there were no contracts involved in the creation of the poem until after the game became a hit, and Microsoft's legal team prevented him from sharing his story with an unnamed media outlet. 

Important historical documentation. A little slice of life.

News you can, unfortunately, use. Will mentioned this last week, but it's worth mentioning again: The Seattle Times has created a printable guide to help people in Washington who want to help someone experiencing a mental or behavioral health crisis. This resource aims to provide people with the tools and information they need to navigate a mental health crisis and seek help when necessary. The guide includes information on when to call 911 or 988, how to talk to dispatchers, and what to expect in an emergency room. The Times has also printed a limited number of copies of this brochure and is seeking input on where they should be distributed. 

Is it normal for girders to look so … alluring? The Washington Department of Transportation has completed the installation of girders that will support the new nine-lane Montlake Boulevard over SR 520. The highway lid and rebuild of Montlake Boulevard has been in the works for over a decade and is expected to be completed in 2024. It will include the construction of a three-acre park, surrounded on all sides by traffic. 

Are these cops the most gullible weirdos in the world, or do they think we are? A couple of cops in North Carolina claim that a fleeing suspect threw a substance that tested positive for fentanyl out of the window of his car, which somehow caused two police officers to “lose consciousness.” Sure, of course, makes sense that some random guy in the middle of nowhere has invented a magic long-distance knockout powder like a fucking prop in Adam West's Batman, there is no reason to doubt that story whatsoever.

Let it snow (non-fatally). Here are some tips for snowmobiling safely. I can’t believe they forgot to mention that if your snowman’s hat falls off he will cease to have consciousness.