"Maplewashing"
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The Canadian English Dictionary
is a project being developed by the Society for Canadian English, a not-for-profit consortium including Editors Canada, the Canadian Word Centre at UBC and the Strathy Language Unit at Queen’s University.
And as of yesterday, they announced their first Word of the Year.
Their press release says that
an earlier version of this release identified the winning word as the gerund “maplewashing”, the headword in the DCHP. CED prefers the more general “maplewash”.
The rest of the shortlist included elbows up, renoviction, ding, hegemonologue, icicle kick, gong show, and hoser:
Curious how the word you voted for measured up to others? Check out the results! It was a close race; “maplewashing” just narrowly beat out the popular runner-up, “elbows up,” 33.8% to 31.3%.
— Canadian English Dictionary (@canadiandictionary.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 7:51 PM
The chosen word obviously follows the metaphorical trail whitewashing → greenwashing → maplewashing.
Update — See also Kim Elsesser, "Pinkwashing, Greenwashing, and Momwashing Explained", Forbes 5/30/2024. And this "What is Colorwashing" page adds "brown-washing" and "rainbow-washing". A bit of random web search turns up "eurowashing", "healthwashing", "safetywashing", and many others…
Chris Button said,
December 13, 2025 @ 8:58 am
"Maplewash" is much better.
Unlike green and white, maple is not a dedicated color term. So, "maplewashing" just makes me think of someone washing down a tree!
Victor Mair said,
December 13, 2025 @ 9:29 am
–> brainwashing
Another maplenote: yesterday in my local grocery store, I saw a new flavor — saltymaple.
Jerry Packard said,
December 13, 2025 @ 9:43 am
That is just so much maplewash.
Mark Liberman said,
December 13, 2025 @ 9:58 am
@Victor Mair:
Brainwashing is a totally different metaphor, and a totally different morphology.
In whitewashing, a wall is covered in whitewash, which is a type of paint made from slaked lime or chalk. In other words, the verb to whitewash is derived from the noun whitewash.
In brainwashing, systematic coercive techniques are used to get someone to adopt particular ideas or attitudes — metaphorically, the brain is washed. Morphologically, it's a compound whose head is the verb to wash. Wiktionary says that it's
From brain + wash, a calque of Chinese 洗腦 / 洗脑 (xǐnǎo), literally to wash the brain. Usage via U.S. military during the Korean War.
Victor Mair said,
December 13, 2025 @ 10:21 am
@Mark Liberman
Having just written a post about brainwashing, I knew all of that. I was just jocularly trying to sweeten the bitter medicine.
"The conceptual origins of 'brainwashing'" (12/6/25)
Jerry Packard said,
December 13, 2025 @ 1:04 pm
Such hogwash.
Jerry Packard said,
December 13, 2025 @ 1:12 pm
I was hogwashing over near my cousin’s bathyscape, when a tank of sowwash washed up on la playa hermosa. Needless to say, the resulting maplewash was a cite to be held.
Jerry Packard said,
December 13, 2025 @ 1:20 pm
As for branewashing, cleansed branes are only one means by which we rid ourselves of those pesky cosmic aliens. It turns out that 4 branes are much better than 3.
Aaron said,
December 13, 2025 @ 4:22 pm
Sanewashing is a good recent example.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanewashing
Anthony Bruck said,
December 13, 2025 @ 4:28 pm
Vermont maple candy and related products also look more Canadian than they are, though inadvertently.
Yves Rehbein said,
December 13, 2025 @ 6:37 pm
"In whitewashing, a wall is covered in whitewash, which is a type of paint made from slaked lime or chalk.", @ Mark Liberman, this is the first time I hear it. I have to add stop gap as a verb, in German stopfen "to stuff", nominal Stopfen "plug" (chiefly in chemsitry class).
In defense of VHM, if white was a noun, it would have to compare to Wand, "wall", that is akin to Weide "willow", because walls were made from wattle and daub.
bks said,
December 14, 2025 @ 6:39 am
And after a good maplewashing, Canada Dry.
Ryan said,
December 15, 2025 @ 12:10 am
The Strathy Language Unit is itself so well-named that I’m going to use strathy as my preferred synonym for Canadian.
>>I just picked up a charging adapter for my electric car.
>Was it made in the US,
>>No, it’s Strathy. Manufactured in Montreal.
ajay said,
December 16, 2025 @ 4:30 am
From painting we have "oilwashing", which is using a wash of diluted oil-based paint to add definition to shadows and recesses. And the excellent SF story "Lena" includes this ominous and unexplained hint on how to work productively with a copy of an uploaded human:
"MMAcevedo's demeanour and attitude contrast starkly with those of nearly all other uploads taken of modern adult humans, most of which boot into a state of disorientation which is quickly replaced by terror and extreme panic. Standard procedures for securing the upload's cooperation such as red-washing, blue-washing, and use of the Objective Statement Protocols are unnecessary."
KevinM said,
December 16, 2025 @ 12:23 pm
I might sometimes wear the same clothes two days in a row if I'm not going to be seen by the same people. Washwashing?
Barbara Phillips Long said,
December 17, 2025 @ 12:53 am
@ KevinM:
Frenchwashing
From the Guardian’s cutesy formatted article about the French ecology officials who recommended more wearing, less washing:
… But it’s what the French government’s ecology department says. Right, new question. How many times do you wear a T-shirt before washing it?
Once, usually. Disgusting! The French say you should wear it five times. Gym clothes?
They’re drenched with sweat afterwards, so obviously once. Wrong! The answer is three. You must wear your dirty gym clothes three times before washing them.
But why? There is a solid argument for all this. More laundry means more energy use, more water pollution and clothes that wear out faster. Washing your clothes a little bit less is a sustainable and conscientious way to live your life.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/feb/05/the-cleaning-conundrum-should-we-wear-gym-clothes-three-times-before-washing
Philip Taylor said,
December 17, 2025 @ 6:09 am
Until this year, Barbara, I was punctilious about changing (and therefore putting in the linen basket for subsequent washing) my clothes every day, with the sole exception of my trousers. But for the past couple of years my upper body has required considerably more layers of clothing in order to keep warm, and so I have recently started "re-cycling" all outer layers, putting aside for washing only the innermost layer (a thin short-sleeved vest) while putting the outer layers on the clothes horse to air. Initially I would sniff the armpits of the outer layers before putting them out to air, but in the present cold season I have given even this up, simply assuming that in the absence of heavy exercise (after which they would automatically go in the linen basket for washing, if not directly into the washing machine) they would remain "socially acceptable".
Andreas Johansson said,
December 17, 2025 @ 10:43 am
Contra the Guardian piece, I don't think going nude counts as "sustainable" – in winter it'd kill me.