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February 18, 2013
What People Gave Up for Lent 2013 (According to Twitter)
The final results are in. Whatever happened to giving up chocolate?
Twitter buzzed last week with proclamations of Lenten sacrifices, alongside plenty of jokes about what to give up for the 40 days of penance leading up to Easter.
Here's a look at this year's official Top 100, compiled by Stephen Smith of OpenBible.info.
With the recent resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, “being pope” topped the 2013 list (full list below) of what to give up for Lent. (“The pope” ranked No. 18 and “Catholicism” No. 28.)
Papal jokes aside, social media seems to be the go-to thing to give up, with social networking (No. 4), Instagram (No. 10), Twitter (No. 11), and Facebook (No. 19) all appearing high on the list.
Chocolate, among the most popular Lenten sacrifices in 2012 and in 2011, slipped all the way to No. 17, possibly because Valentine’s fell the day after Ash Wednesday this year. Food remained the most popular category of items to forgo, with chips to frozen yogurt making the list.
The full 2013 list (below) has some interesting mentions, as Smith points out.
“The only celebrity to make the list was British boy band One Direction, up substantially at #41,” he wrote. “I learned several new words this year: twerking (#34), a type of dance move, selfies (#46), or self-shot photos taken with a phone, subtweeting (#57), or tweeting about someone without mentioning them by name, oomf (#71), or ‘one of my followers,’ and Nando’s (#76), a chicken restaurant.”
| Rank | Word | Count | Change from last year’s rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Being pope | 5,654 | |
| 2. | Swearing | 4,944 | +1 |
| 3. | Soda | 2,648 | +2 |
| 4. | Social networking | 2,264 | +19 |
| 5. | Alcohol | 2,217 | -1 |
| 6. | Chips | 1,690 | +8 |
| 7. | Virginity | 933 | +23 |
| 8. | Marijuana | 784 | +17 |
| 9. | Fast food | 776 | -2 |
| 10. | 755 | +270 | |
| 11. | 672 | -10 | |
| 12. | Cookies | 643 | +19 |
| 13. | Valentine’s day | 514 | |
| 14. | Masturbation | 510 | +18 |
| 15. | Takeout | 465 | +59 |
| 16. | Sweets | 444 | -7 |
| 17. | Chocolate | 417 | -15 |
| 18. | The pope | 394 | +10,224 |
| 19. | 380 | -13 | |
| 20. | Horse meat | 375 | |
| 21. | Junk food | 362 | -8 |
| 22. | Smoking | 355 | -3 |
| 23. | My swag | 331 | +373 |
| 24. | Desserts | 325 | +21 |
| 25. | Life | 325 | +40 |
| 26. | New year’s resolutions | 313 | +47 |
| 27. | My boyfriend | 309 | +99 |
| 28. | Catholicism | 255 | +11 |
| 29. | Straightening my hair | 228 | +89 |
| 30. | Fried food | 225 | +5 |
| 31. | Netflix | 216 | +255 |
| 32. | Work | 216 | -5 |
| 33. | Sobriety | 213 | +4 |
| 34. | Twerking | 185 | +698 |
| 35. | The playoffs | 184 | +3,556 |
| 36. | French fries | 173 | +19 |
| 37. | Coke | 168 | +1 |
| 38. | Feelings | 168 | +207 |
| 39. | Laziness | 160 | +28 |
| 40. | Meat | 158 | -30 |
| 41. | Onedirection | 155 | +103 |
| 42. | You | 154 | -24 |
| 43. | Procrastination | 153 | +1 |
| 44. | Makeup | 150 | +16 |
| 45. | Internet | 149 | +61 |
| 46. | Selfies | 149 | +2,328 |
| 47. | Exercise | 144 | +58 |
| 48. | School | 141 | -36 |
| 49. | My phone | 135 | +15 |
| 50. | Classes | 129 | +84 |
| 51. | Dip | 127 | +132 |
| 52. | 125 | +133 | |
| 53. | Church | 124 | +33 |
| 54. | Emotions | 122 | +397 |
| 55. | Going to school | 119 | +163 |
| 56. | My girlfriend | 111 | +207 |
| 57. | Subtweeting | 110 | +253 |
| 58. | College | 106 | +5 |
| 59. | My face | 106 | +4,168 |
| 60. | Ice cream | 106 | -27 |
| 61. | McDonald’s | 102 | -32 |
| 62. | Being ugly | 101 | +256 |
| 63. | Snacking | 99 | +19 |
| 64. | Spending | 96 | +89 |
| 65. | Dunkin Donuts | 96 | +475 |
| 66. | Chew | 95 | +418 |
| 67. | Eating out | 94 | +28 |
| 68. | Elevators | 94 | +99 |
| 69. | Food | 93 | -47 |
| 70. | Moaning | 93 | +123 |
| 71. | Oomf | 93 | +78 |
| 72. | Chick Fil A | 90 | +135 |
| 73. | Healthy food | 88 | +180 |
| 74. | Football | 87 | +145 |
| 75. | Swimming | 87 | +200 |
| 76. | Nando’s | 86 | +72 |
| 77. | DVDs | 84 | +1,326 |
| 78. | Snapchat | 84 | |
| 79. | Broccoli | 83 | +206 |
| 80. | Ranch | 81 | +250 |
| 81. | The snooze button | 80 | +176 |
| 82. | Crystal meth | 80 | +219 |
| 83. | Dignity | 79 | +116 |
| 84. | Cake | 77 | -13 |
| 85. | Unhealthy food | 77 | +34 |
| 86. | Homework | 76 | -65 |
| 87. | Busyness | 75 | |
| 88. | Schoolwork | 74 | +88 |
| 89. | Chemistry | 74 | +34,949 |
| 90. | Frozen yogurt | 72 | +480 |
| 91. | iPhone | 72 | +100 |
| 92. | FIFA | 71 | +143 |
| 93. | Betting | 70 | +315 |
| 94. | Doing homework | 69 | +158 |
| 95. | Myself | 68 | +267 |
| 96. | Supermarkets | 67 | +1,797 |
| 97. | Valentines | 66 | |
| 98. | Domino’s | 63 | +323 |
| 99. | Being negative | 63 | +212 |
| 100. | Hookah | 63 | +340 |
Lent began on Ash Wednesday, February 13, and ends before Easter, March 31.

Comments
What kind of Christian site is this that mocks another religion for their practices?
As you said," With the recent resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, “being pope” topped the 2013 list (full list below) of what to give up for Lent. (“The pope” ranked No. 18 and “Catholicism” No. 28.)Papal jokes aside, social media seems to be the go-to thing to give up, with social networking (No. 4), Instagram (No. 10), Twitter (No. 11), and Facebook (No. 19) all appearing high on the list.
Have you considered the 'social media' being the problem here and not the person who desires to sacrifice for the love of Christ? I will pray for you and others of like.
Posted By: salli | February 28, 2013 12:36 PM
Whoa, I'm not even Catholic, and the anti-catholic sentiments kind of offended ME. And for being a "Christian" website, mocking another religion or denomination is pretty petty, and I also get the feeling from the twitter/lent plaque that y'all are just kind of making fun of Lent. I don't know...it's a tad unsettling. :\
Posted By: Lenore | March 11, 2013 8:56 PM
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