site.bta"Schengen," "Dubai Chocolate" and "Sanitary Cordon" Voted by Bulgarians as Top Words and Phrases of 2024
"Schengen," "Dubai chocolate" and "sanitary cordon" were the top words and phrases in Bulgaria in 2024, according to a poll conducted via the online platform "Kak se pishe?" ("How Do You Spell It?"), the platform administrators said on Monday.
"Schengen," which leads in the poll on a score of 37%, is associated with the campaign for Bulgaria's full accession to the Schengen free travel area, which was declared on January 1, 2025. "Dubai chocolate" (26%) is a chocolate bar with a filling made of kadayif and pistachio. The term "sanitary cordon" (24%) became popular after a proposal for political isolation of Delyan Peevski, the US Magnitsky-sanctioned leader of Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning.
The top 10 list also includes "Gundi," the nickname of Bulgarian football legend Georgi Asparuhov (1943-1971), who is commemorated in a 2024 feature film that instantly became very popular. Positions 5 to 10 were taken by "elections," "disinformation," "water shortage," "Trump," "New Beginning" and "Olympic Games."
Two of the jury members, the platform founder Pavlina Varbanova and Bulgarian-language teacher and journalist Doroteya Nikolova, commented that the word "Schengen" clearly signifies the European orientation of the Bulgarians who appreciate the benefits of European Union membership. By comparison, the phrase of 2023, "artificial intelligence," showed the sensitivity of the Bulgarian people to global developments. As for "sanitary cordon," it provides a glimpse at Bulgarian society from within, the dividing lines and the polarization, the failure to reach consensus on the nation's future.
A possible explanation of the popularity of "Dubai chocolate," according to Varbanova, is that Bulgarians are tired of the reality in their country and are looking for fun outside its borders and beyond the confines of politics. On a more pessimistic note, the case of "Dubai chocolate" shows that the power of the social media creates ever greater risks, and just as this particular brand of candy gained popularity among Bulgarians following its promotion by influencers on social media, the time may come when we will put enormous power in the hands of some TikTok politician, Varbanova warned.
Nikolova noted that "Gundi" narrowly missed a spot within the top three. Bulgarians need positive, bright symbols in the present time of confusion, she commented. Drawing particular attention to "disinformation," ranked in sixth position, Nikolova said that people are imperceptibly and voluntarily involved in the distortion of reality, which has disastrous effects on the choices we make for our future.
Media expert Georgi Lozanov, until recently head of the LIK Directorate at BTA, said that, after all, Bulgarians were pleased with the year 2024 and did not lose their optimism even in the face of growing geopolitical threats
The 20 words that were most often used in Bulgarian media in 2024 were "Bulgaria," "Europe," "USA," "Russia," "child," "war," "Ukraine," "aid," "politics," "minister," "president," "support," "elections," "price," "party," "family," "government," "social," "governance" and "doctor." The conclusion is based on data collected by the Sensika media monitoring company from 9.6 million articles from 10,123 online news sources.
The persons most mentioned in Bulgarian media in 2024 were Donald Trump (the ex-US president eventually elected to a second term), Boyko Borissov (leader of the GERB party and three-time prime minister of Bulgaria), Vladimir Putin (the President of Russia), Delyan Peevski (the Bulgarian politician who currently leads the Movement for Rights and Freedoms – New Beginning), Rumen Radev (the President of Bulgaria), Joe Biden, Kiril Petkov, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Nikolay Denkov, Ahmed Dogan, Assen Vassilev, Mariya Gabriel, Korneliya Ninova, Kalin Stoyanov, Emmanuel Macron, Vassil Terziev, Kostadin Kostadinov, Elon Musk, Borislav Sarafov and Grigor Dimitrov.
/RY/
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