SPRINGFIELD, Massachusetts (The Adobo Chronicles, San Francisco Bureau) – It’s that time of the year when Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary picks its word of the year, and its choice comes as no surprise in this age of the coronavirus: PANDEMIC.

This year, Webster also picked a word of the year in each of the countries in the world.

For the Philippines, the dictionary picked “Cosmetic” as its word of the year.

The choice stems from recent highfalutin statements of Vice President Leni Robredo mentioning the word “cosmetic,” like when she said “cosmetic affinity” and “cosmetic courage.”

Robredo’s recent messages in English were miles apart from her usual rhetoric in the Filipino language which were full of “iyon,” “iyong” and “ang sa akin.”

How politics influences language! Or is it the other way around?