“Rhetoric,” “misinformation,” “disinformation” and a flood of words related to the pandemic, campaigns and social media dominate the press and conversations. Lexicographers choose “lockdown” as their 2020 word of the year because of its “unifying experience for billions of people across the world.” Planet Word opens, Tom Toles retires, and The Post makes a Black and White decision. We focus on language — composed of words new and archaic. Words changing denotations and connotations, adjectives coloring the characters and scenes writers paint, words sharing roots and expressing unique cultures. Always reflecting character.