To be honest, people are saying "honestly" all the time.

According to the Corpus of Historical American English, a database that measures word usage over time, the use of "honestly" has skyrocketed over the last 25 years.

Mark Liberman / Mark Davies, Corpus of Historical American English / Mark Davies, Corpus of Historical American English

Not just in casual conversation: It's a signifier of online authenticity.

"Honestly" is the name of the podcast by CBS News' new editor Bari Weiss, the title of a 2022 studio album by Drake, the name of a new AI journaling app and appended to a number of popular TikTok and Instagram accounts.

So, for this installment of Word of the Week, we ask, what's up with 'honestly'?

The honest tie to internet culture

"I got so excited when I

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