The word NJ had to look up the most is both hysterical and ironic

We’ve been called the armpit of America. We are thought of as cold, uncaring jerks who are only interested in gym, tan, laundry. We don’t have a great reputation for, let’s say, being the "milk of human kindness." After all, as far as I know, we’re the only state that's named a middle finger by calling it the Jersey Salute.

Keep that in mind as I tell you a study was just done by SportsMillions that looked at Google search data to see which states were confused by what word more than any other.

Examples:

A total of 13 states looked up the definition of ‘gaslighting’ more than any other word. These states include Illinois, Alabama, and Arkansas

‘Genocide’ was a stumper for 10 states, with Texas and Delaware being among them.

The exact definition of ‘narcissist’ needed to be looked up more often than any other word in Nevada and six other states.

So what word was it that New Jersey struggled with the most, and had to look up its definition?

‘Empathy‘

I’m sorry, but how hysterical is that? We get this reputation for being cold as ice, mean to everybody, gruff. And now it’s probably further cemented when America learns that the word we don’t understand the meaning of is empathy.

In case you don’t know, according to MerriamWebster.com…

Empathy (noun): the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another.

Seriously, this doesn’t make us look good my fellow New Jerseyans. If only the word we most needed a definition for had been greed, or maybe failure. But no. The standing joke is now we have no idea what it means to imagine how the other guy might feel and we had to look it up. Like the insensitive jerks we’re thought to be. How Jersey is that?

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

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