Get to know data centers before simply rejecting them
It’s a tradition like no other. Several entities — Merriam-Webster and Oxford University Press among them — pick a term and proclaim it the Word of the Year. We’ve had slop, rage bait, six-seven, brain rot, rizz, authentic, goblin mode and gaslighting blow up in recent years. Based on news mentions during the first half of 2026, it appears that the leader at the turn for this year’s Word of the Year is data centers. They’re a hot topic because they’re popping up all over the country as our collective love affair with tech and all that comes with it continues and ...