The Word of the Year, Celebrity Obsession… and Why Raccoons Might Be the Next Pets

In this edition of Nina’s What’s Trending, we break down the stories everyone’s talking about—starting with Cambridge Dictionary’s Word of the Year, inspired by one of pop culture’s biggest power couples. But that’s just the beginning. A surprising new study suggests a familiar (and slightly terrifying) animal could soon be welcome inside our homes… and the debate gets heated fast.

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Nina's What's Trending is your daily dose of the hottest headlines, viral moments, and must-know stories from The Jubal Show! From celebrity gossip and pop culture buzz to breaking news and weird internet trends, Nina’s got you covered with everything trending right now. She delivers it with wit, energy, and a touch of humor. Stay in the know and never miss a beat—because if it’s trending, Nina’s talking about it!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Give us three minutes and we'll give you everything you
need to know for the day with Nina's What's Trending.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Cambridge has just announced it's Dictionary's word of the Year,
and it's inspired by Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce would
but but I haven't actually heard this word used at all,
so it'll be interesting to see if you guys can
guess what it is when we get to that point.
But first, we all may be able to have a
new kind of pet in our houses. And research is

(00:24):
saying that raccoons are looking like it's going to be
it is raccoon. No raccoon.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Raccoon's are evil.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Uh not her raccoon. Hers is really cute.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Just wait and very sweet.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Interesting thing.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
They all not all gooble and they all want to
eat you, not all of them. They are yours.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
They are very mischievous, though they have like little masks on.
But the weirdest part about all of this is is
the study that's calling raccoons the new pet is because
their faces are starting to evolve and look cuter, and
so the cuter they get. I guess this happened with
like mice and stuff. Over time they started to look cuter,
which makes them more likely to be a pet or
something that you would want in your home.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
There are little evil changelings physically shape shifters. There's shape
shifting into something cute, so you won't think that they're
going to bite you in your sleep. Maybe we can
get into their house if our faces look different, and
then they're magical, so they can do that, and then
they'll attack you when you're asleep. Well, they're not going
to get anything over on me.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
I don't know what you did to raccoons to make
i'd be tormented.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
I was tormented by a raccoon for an entire three
years of my life. Are you really Yes, there was
this huge raccoon. I used to live in the back
of this guy's house, you know, And every time I
had to walk out of the house to go to work,
I would have to walk down his little walkway and
go out the gate, and there was always this huge
raccoon that would lumber down the street. It looked like
a bear. And every single morning when I had to leave,

(01:44):
it was very early in the morning, he would always
go into the bush right by where I had to
open the gate. No, not a I'm like waiting to
attack me. So I always had to like kick the
door open and then jump over where the bush was
and run to my car.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
Maybe you just really wanted to be your friend, that's all.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
It was creature. And then I had the other raccoon
that stole my slide out of my house. Well, that's funny.
It's funny. Also kind of on you for leaving your doggy.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Door open house, that's funny. She was like, get here, Oh,
that's kind.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
He comes and is my dog's food in front of
him and then just stares my dog down while he
eats the food slowly, like that's not cool behavior. You're going, Yeah,
the little guy, just don't let my dog out, you know,
because he'll probably just backhand him. I don't trust him.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
So Jubile's not going to have a raccoon anytime soon.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
No.

Speaker 2 (02:36):
Meanwhile, they've got a parasocial attachment to him. That's the
word of the year, parasocial. Do you like how are
used parasocial attachment? Parasocial is Cambridge Dictionary's word of the Year,
and it's inspired by Taylor and Travis Kelsey because what
it means is it's that one sided bond that people
form with celebrities or people that they don't really actually know,
but they become obsessed with. So like Victoria has a

(02:56):
parasocial attachment to Taylor Swift.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
Oh yeah, I mean kind of like that sounds weird.
Tate McCrae, then, oh yeah, but you do have a
parasocial attachment to.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Her love Tate McCray, And that's okay. I can't convince
me there's actually nothing wrong with it. There's just actually
a term for it now, and it's parasocial.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, it just feels weird. So I do feel weird
having a name, but your parasocial? Can you have a
placard to park in a special spot?

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Maybe? Hey, I'll thank you now,