This Week in Words: Current Events Vocab for September 20–September 26, 2025

The United Nations General Assembly opened for general debate on September 23, marking the UNGA's 80th anniversary. The world body faces challenges, including ongoing wars around the world and its own budget crisis. The mood at the conference has been described as somber. The annual event provides an opportunity for the leaders of all 193 member nations to gather and speak before the assembled group of diplomats and heads of state. Speeches and debate will continue until September 29.

Fat Bear Week started early in Alaska's Katmai National Park. The annual event allows online voters to choose their favorites among the park's corpulent brown bears as they bulk up for winter. Park officials say the bears are already "magnificently plump" thanks to the park's large numbers of salmon this year. Katmai's bears are consuming extra calories to build the fat stores they'll need to survive during their deep winter rest. The Latin root of corpulent means "body."

Decades of work cleaning the once-polluted Chicago River culminated in the city's first open river swim in a century. Led by environmentalists, and with support from some elected officials, the river's poor water quality was transformed. Industrial dumping was halted, and a tunnel system now directs sewage away from the river. The return of fish, beavers, and other animals has thrilled ecologists, but the crowning achievement was inviting delighted Chicago residents to swim in the river.

A "Poorly Drawn Pets" fundraiser in Pasadena, California, was far more successful than its organizers anticipated, attracting 450 submissions and raising over $11,000. People around the country submitted photos of their pets, along with donations, and volunteers at Pasadena Humane, a nonprofit animal shelter, did their best to draw accurate portraits of the dogs, cats, hamsters, and other pets. The results varied in skill, but all were enthusiastically received by online viewers.

The 35th annual Ig Nobel prize ceremony, organized by the Annals of Improbable Research, honored winners in 10 categories. Described as a celebration of "achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think," the ceremony honored a variety of unlikely research projects. One far-fetched experiment investigated the pizza preferences of rainbow lizards in Togo (they prefer four-cheese pies); another found that painting cows with zebra stripes reduces horsefly bites.

Russian military aircraft have made several incursions into NATO airspace this month, leading to a stern warning by the political alliance. Last week, a Russian aircraft was intercepted over the Baltic Sea by German and Swedish fighter jets, and Estonia accused Russia of briefly entering its airspace. NATO's statement said that violating member nations' protected airspace was dangerous and that it would defend its territory using "military and non-military" tactics.

Nepal's new interim leader is Sushila Karki, the first female to serve as the country's prime minister. After deadly police crackdowns and protests rocked Nepal's capital earlier this month, the government was overthrown and the former prime minister resigned. Karki, whose anti-corruption campaigns made her popular with young activists, was appointed to lead the country's temporary emergency government until elections in March. Interim means "in the meantime" in Latin.

Las Vegas Aces player A'ja Wilson became the first WNBA player to be a four-time recipient of the most valuable player award. Before she received the honor on September 21, Wilson had been one of only four women basketball players to be named MVP three times, sharing that record with Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson. The Latin root of recipient is recipere, "take in."

Thousands of people visiting Machu Picchu, Peru, were stranded amid a protest that suspended bus and train service. About 2,000 tourists were eventually evacuated. Residents of Aguas Calientes remonstrated against the government's awarding of a new transportation contract to a different district, away from the long-standing operator. Rocks blocked access to tracks and roads as demonstrators railed against the lack of "transparency and fairness" in the distribution of tourist dollars.

A new study shows that most people perceive apologies to be more sincere when the person expressing remorse uses longer, more complex words. Researchers assembled sets of essentially identical apologies, such as "I'm really sorry" and "I'm genuinely sorry," and found that participants felt that using more elaborate words like genuinely felt more meaningful because they required extra effort. The Latin root of remorse means "to bite back" or "bite again."