Fill Me In #377: The last stop on the WOTY junket.

This week, Ryan and Brian are graced with the return of The Barnacle! Ben Zimmer stops by with the inside scoop on the Word of the Year (which earned us an "explicit" rating). Other news: 64-card decks, Brian doesn't know the difference between Latin and French, and this week's "Kealoa," featuring ACME vs. APEX.

Stuff to click:

• American Dialect Society's 2022 Word of the Year wrapup
• another article about it, this time in Rolling Stone
• Follow Ben Zimmer on Twitter!
• Follow the American Dialect Society on Twitter!
• 500, the card game with 64 cards
• upcoming cryptic crossword stream on January 18 with Will Nediger, Hayley Gold, and guests from The Rackenfracker
• spend $478.56 to get the framed crossword from "All About Steve"

If you get bored, write something for the Fill Me In wiki. And if you're feeling philanthropic, donate to our Patreon.

Do you enjoy our show? Actually, it doesn't matter! Please consider leaving us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts. This will help new listeners find our show, and you'll be inducted into the Quintuple Decker Turkey Club.

Drop us a note or a Tweet or a postcard or a phone call — we'd love to hear from you.

Helpful links:

• Apple Podcasts link: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fill-me-in/id1364379980
• Google Play link: https://player.fm/series/fill-me-in-2151002
• Amazon/Audible link: https://www.amazon.com/item_name/dp/B08JJRM927
• RSS feed: http://bemoresmarter.libsyn.com/rss
• Contact us: Email ([email protected]) / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Google Voice (315-510-9892)

We're putting these words here to help with search engine optimization. We don't think it will work, but you probably haven't read this far, so it doesn't matter: baseball, crossword, crosswords, etymology, game, hunt, movies, musicals, mystery, oscar, pizza, puzzle, puzzles, soup, trivia, words