Nonfiction / Listicle

An A-Z of The Tortured Poets Department

Words Taylor Swift made us Google

Photo by Jovan Vasiljević on Unsplash

If Taylor Swift’s recent double-album drop of The Tortured Poets Department last Friday had you scrambling for a dictionary, you’re not alone. The phrase “What is a fortnight?” jumped 800% on Google after the release.

Taylor is known for her incredible lyricism and extensive vocabulary, and TTPD turns that dial up to 100, so there’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of if you hear a word that has you scratching your head. (I have a PhD in English literature, and even I come across a word I haven’t heard before sometimes!)

So, here’s a list of some of the words and phrases in TTPD that might be new or confusing, in alphabetical order:

A

Albatross—noun. Literally, “an enormous white ocean bird that spends the first 6 or more years of its long life (50+ years) without ever landing.” Metaphorically, it refers to “a continuing problem that makes it difficult or impossible to do or achieve something.”

“She’s the albatross / She is here to destroy you.” — The Albatross