This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 6–September 12, 2025

A Labor Department report showed anemic job growth for the fourth month in a row. Only 22,000 jobs were added to the economy in August, 75 percent fewer than a year ago. An increase in health care jobs was offset by job losses in construction, manufacturing, and other industries, resulting in an overall weak rate of hiring. Anemic, figuratively "slow and weak," is from the Greek anaimia, "lack of blood."

Scientists studying motion sickness found that listening to cheerful music can often assuage some of its symptoms. Researchers used a driving simulator to induce feelings of car sickness in 30 participants. They then compared the effects of different kinds of music. A joyful tune was found to relieve symptoms of nausea and dizziness in 57 percent of people; sad songs, on the other hand, made patients feel more sick. The Latin root of assuage means "to sweeten."

A teenager nicknamed "God's influencer," who died at 15 from leukemia, became the first Catholic saint of his generation. Thousands watched as Carlo Acutis was canonized by Pope Leo XIV in a Vatican ceremony. Acutis was sainted after being recognized for performing two miracles: healing two children who had prayed to him. As a young teenager, Acutis coded a website dedicated to Eucharistic miracles. Many devotees have visited his tomb in Assisi, Italy, since his death in 2006.

Hikers climbing Colorado's Huron Peak were startled to see a man conveying ice-cream sandwiches to the summit in a large backpack. Even more surprisingly, the man was wearing an ice-cream cone costume. The anonymous hero transported dozens of the frozen treats, packed in dry ice, up the side of the 14,000-foot mountain, where he passed them out to hot, tired hikers before disappearing, his identity remaining unknown.

A new study shows that as temperatures go up, people consume more sugar, raising their risk of diabetes. Researchers found that U.S. sugar consumption has grown in the past 15 years, much of it from sweetened drinks and frozen treats that people consume more of as temperatures rise from 54 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Adding one can of soda daily makes it 29 percent more likely that a person's insulin production won't be able to keep up with their sugar intake — leading to diabetes.

A rule that made some packages sent into the U.S. exempt from tariffs has ended. The regulation had excluded parcels worth less than $800 from the extra duties and fees. Its cancellation caused an abrupt 80 percent drop in postal traffic from foreign countries. Dozens of countries suspended mail services to the U.S. to give their postal operators time to adjust to the new rules and increased expenses. The Latin root of exempt means "make an exception of."

The Harlem Hellfighters of the New York National Guard's 369th Infantry Regiment were posthumously honored with a Congressional Gold Medal. The majority-Black regiment fought in the trenches during World War I, when the armed forces were still segregated. Their bravery remained unrecognized for decades; now, years after their deaths, the Hellfighters received one of Congress's highest awards. A granddaughter of the late Sgt. Leander Willett accepted the award on the regiment's behalf.

Japan's prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, announced his resignation. Ishiba, who has held the country's top office since October, said he would step down in light of his party's defeat in parliamentary elections this summer. He had resisted repeated calls by members of his party to relinquish his position, only resigning one day before a scheduled no-confidence vote. The Latin root of resignation is resignare, "annul, cancel, or give back."

A prankster who provoked residents of an apartment block in Germany, leading them to call the police, turned out to be a slug. Neighbors assumed the repeated doorbell ringing after midnight was the work of kids playing "ding dong ditch," or klingelstreich, "bell prank" in German. Authorities arrived to find a slime-trailing mollusk on the entry panel. Police said the slug was "brought down to size, taught about its territory boundaries, and placed on a stretch of grass."

A ban of 26 social media sites in Nepal, including YouTube, Signal, and WhatsApp, triggered protests that forced the country's prime minister and several cabinet ministers to resign. While demonstrations were sparked by anger over losing access to the websites and apps, their root cause was frustration with government corruption and widespread poverty. At least 30 people were killed as protestors clashed with security forces.