Trending: cache

Lookups spiked 900% on January 18, 2019

Why are people looking up cache?

Cache peeked out from its hiding place and discovered that it was among our top lookups on January 18th, 2019. The word spiked after it appeared in an article in BuzzFeed News that alleged President Trump had directed his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress.

The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents.
— Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier, BuzzFeed News (buzzfeednews.com), 17 Jan. 2019

What does cache mean?

We define cache as “a hiding place especially for concealing and preserving provisions or implements,” “a secure place of storage,” and “something hidden or stored in a cache.” The word has additional applicability outside of the realm of political scandal, referring to “a computer memory with very short access time used for storage of frequently or recently used instructions or data.”

What is notable about this use of cache?

Cache, due to its terminal e and enchanting French origins, often leaves people flummoxed as to how to pronounce it. Although it shares a root with cachet (“prestige”), both words coming from a French word meaning “to hide” (cacher), these words are not pronounced in the same manner. Cache rhymes with sash, and cachet with sashay.

Trend Watch is a data-driven report on words people are looking up at much higher search rates than normal. While most trends can be traced back to the news or popular culture, our focus is on the lookup data rather than the events themselves.


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