When:
Lookups spiked on September 27, 2011
Why:
In a diary entry on ESPN.com, Boston Bruin Brad Marchand mentioned the tattoo he received in the team's dressing room after their 2011 Stanley Cup victory.
In the original draft on Marchand's flesh, the tattoo artist described the player as a member of the "Stanley Cup Champians."
We suspect that many Merriam-Webster users looked up the word to confirm that "champians" is not an accepted alternative spelling. It isn't, and Marchand's tattoo was corrected soon after he received it.
Champion comes from the Latin word for "combatant" or "fighter." The word's root means "field" or "arena," where battles took place.
Photo credit: Marco Becerra / flickr
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
