This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for May 4–May 10, 2025

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy admonished Defense Department officials after an Army Black Hawk helicopter took what he called a dangerous, unplanned "scenic route around the Pentagon." The safety standards violation forced two commercial planes to be diverted from landing in Washington, D.C. Duffy said the pilot's action was unacceptable and that he will meet with officials to demand an explanation. The Latin root of admonish means "to warn or advise."

A three-year-old colt named Sovereignty finished first in the Kentucky Derby, pulling 1.5 lengths ahead of Journalism, who was favored to prevail. It was the first win of the coveted trophy for jockey Junior Alvarado. Despite the highly prized victory, Sovereignty won't compete in the Preakness, the second of the three Triple Crown races, but he will prepare to race in the Belmont Stakes in June. Coveted is from the Latin root cupere, meaning "long for."

Brazilian police foiled a planned attack on a Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro. After authorities saw a group trying to recruit people online to help make Molotov cocktails and other explosives for attacking concert-goers, they thwarted the scheme and arrested two people. The free show, which had about two million attendees, was the largest of Lady Gaga's career. Foiled again! was a common cry of defeat uttered by frustrated stage villains in the mid-1800s.

As time goes by, AI becomes more and more powerful — but so do its hallucinations. While the technology makes increasingly accurate and complex mathematical calculations, it also provides more false information. Researchers found that some AI systems make up fake facts as much as 79 percent of the time. Experts aren't sure why this happens, aside from the fact that AI uses mathematical probabilities to guess best answers to questions, which seems to result in many hallucinations.

There were many winners at a South Carolina race featuring cars worth less than $500 and considered lemons. The 24 Hours of Lemons event, billed as "racing for real people," is an endurance race. Dozens of beat-up vehicles, many of them decorated with paint and googly eyes, competed just to keep running on the two-mile track. The American slang term lemon, meaning "dud" or "defective thing," is likely derived from the sense of leaving a sour taste in the mouth.

Midwives in Chad are seeking funding to replace about three million dollars in cuts from USAID. The country has a high maternal mortality rate: 1,063 deaths per 100,000 live births. Health workers who help during pregnancy and birth play a critical role in preventing these deaths. Last year, U.S. funds covered the cost of 26,000 safe births in Chad. In Middle English, midwife means "woman who is with," from mid, "with," and wif, "woman."

New York's bird lovers are worried about why the city's pigeons have been disappearing in recent months, and they have a theory. As the sight of sidewalk flocks eating discarded pretzels and hot dogs becomes less common, some believe the birds are being captured and sold to hunters for live pigeon shoots in Pennsylvania. The Old French source of pigeon is pijon, "young dove," from the Latin pipire, "to peep."

Researchers discovered that a critically endangered Mexican salamander species can survive and thrive in the wild after being bred in captivity. The findings mean new hope for the small amphibians known as axolotls. Recaptured salamanders had gained weight, a sign that the animals — which resemble cartoon lizards — can succeed on their own. Salamander derives from the Greek salamandra, a mythical lizard that extinguished fire.

In Vatican City, 16 days after Pope Francis died, 133 cardinals gathered to choose the next pope. After days of secret voting in the Sistine Chapel, they selected Cardinal Robert Prevost as the new leader, now called Pope Leo XIV. This historic and unprecedented moment marks the first time a pope is from the United States. White smoke rose from the chapel chimney, signaling to the world that a new pope had been elected.

Scientists found that human wounds heal much more slowly than those of most mammals, including mice and chimpanzees. The hair follicles covering the skin of furry animals also contain stem cells that speed up the healing of cuts, scrapes, and even deeper, more serious wounds. Our relatively hairless skin takes twice as long to repair itself — though its ability to sweat keeps us much cooler.