LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

    In a previous post, I chose corrupción as the word of the year in Peninsular Spanish. As I anticipated, FUNDEU RAE (Fundación del Español Urgente, Real Academia Española) has opted instead for arancel , apparently on the grounds of frequency, in keeping with a posture of political neutrality that has little to do with the study of language as social practice or lived experience.   I have conducted a modest, admittedly unscientific poll among acquaintances, students, friends, and family. All of them know perfectly well what corrupción means, whereas several hesitated or faltered when asked about arancel . I am well aware that anecdotal evidence does not compete methodologically with corpus data, and I stand ready to be corrected on scientific grounds; still, I stick to my guns and proclaim corrupción the word of the year for 2025. One can only hope that it will lose currency in 2026—and perhaps even disappear from our vocabulary altogether.

SPANISH WORD OF THE YEAR: MY PERSONAL CHOICE As 2025 comes to an end, there is a word in Spain that seems to be on everybody’s lips. It has dominated the news—morning, afternoon, and night—throughout the year. The Real Academia Española will no doubt make its own selection, but my choice, as an eyewitness to daily usage, is CORRUPCIÓN . Corrupción —corruption, the state of being corrupt, marked by dishonest practices such as bribery, lack of integrity, and crookedness—has become part of Spain’s everyday political vocabulary. Corruption appears to be perceived as widespread within the Spanish government and, more specifically, within the governing Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE). The words CORRUPCIÓN and CORRUPTO are now common currency on radio and television, in cafés, and at tertulias , both private and public. My Random House Dictionary does not mince words: “ CORRUPT applies to one, especially in public office, who acts on mercenary motives, without regard to honor, ri...