Surreal Moments In 2016 That Made Us Ask "Is This Real Life?"

Larry Busacca/PW/WireImage; Courtesy HBO; Alex Livesey/Getty

On Monday, Merriam-Webster named "surreal" the official word of 2016, and we couldn't agree with their selection more.

According to the publisher, the word experienced an uptick in search over the past year (go figure!). "It was looked up significantly more frequently by users in 2016 than it was in previous years, and because there were multiple occasions on which this word was the one clearly driving people to their dictionary,"

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Indeed, there were multiple occasions over the past year that we had to stop and ask: "Is this real life?" From Jon Snow's resurrection to Tom Hiddleston's bizarre but totally brilliant stunt as a weatherman at a local Chicago news channel, 2016 was most definitely the year of "Ummm, did that really just happen?" Before we bid farewell to 2016, take a look at the most surreal moments from the year in pop culture below.

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Adele Is An Amazing Rapper?

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OK, fine, carpool karaoke itself isn't so surreal. What was surreal, however, was witnessing Adele expertly rapping a verse of Nicki Minaj's "Monster," hand gestures, inflections, and all. The rapper even Instagrammed her approval of Adele's rendition of the song.

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Ross Geller as Robert Kardashian?

Prashant Gupta/FX

Yes, we know his real name is David Schwimmer, but he'll always be Ross to us, even when he's Robert Kardashian—and saying "Juice" a lot.

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Tom Hiddleston Plays a Weatherman?

COURTESY

Back in April, Hiddleston dropped by a local news station in Chicago to report on the weather, blaming his Avengers' character Loki's arch nemesis, Thor, for the thunderstorms that day. "My brother from another mother's been misbehaving," he said on air. "The God of Thunder has brought his skill set to bear on the local weather." He took the joke very seriously, even calling out his fellow actor: "Chris Hemsworth has taken his hammer and smashed it on the surface of the sky and it’s going to rain a helluva lot." We're not sure how or why this happened, but we love it.

4 of 13

Jon Snow Isn't Dead?

Courtesy HBO

Even after the entire cast of Game of Thrones tried to fake us out regarding Jon Snow's (Kit Harington) death, we pretty much all saw that resurrection coming, especially after the actor was spotted on set a few times during filming. Even so, that moment when he gasped for breath in April's season premiere can be summed up in one word: surreal.

5 of 13

Prince George Meets President Obama ... In His Robe?

Pete Souza/The White House

Like a moment out of the most adorable movie ever, Prince George was allowed to stay up past his bedtime to meet the President back in April. Obama later hit us with an amazing dad joke about the meeting, calling the Prince's bedtime attire a "clear breach of protocol."

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Beyoncé Releases Lemonade

Courtesy

Bey basically broke the Internet when she released her visual album, Lemonade, in April of this year. The fashion, the music, the story within the videos: epic and completely surreal to watch.

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Simone Biles Stars In Her Very Own Rom-Com?

simonebiles/instagram

After the gold-medalist admitted to having a major crush on Zac Efron, the actor surprised the gymnast and the rest of the U.S. Olympic team by flying to Rio to meet them. He gave Biles a sweet kiss on the cheek, living out our most surreal of high school fantasies. Swoon.

8 of 13

Bill Clinton Fell In Love With a Balloon?

Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty

Will anyone ever look at us the way that the former president gazed at those balloons at the DNC? Honestly, probably not.

9 of 13

Prince George Creates a Meme?

Samir Hussein/Pool/WireImage

Prince George and Princess Charlotte took Canada by storm when they visited the country on a royal tour back in October. The final image of Prince George as he left the Great White North? An adorable photo of his face pressed up against the window of the airplane, noise-canceling headphones on and all.

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Prince Harry Issues a Public Statement About His ... Girlfriend?

Chris Jackson/Getty; George Pimentel/WireImage

In a completely unusual move for the royal family, the palace released a statement that confirmed Prince Harry's relationship with Meghan Markle and took aim at the media's scrutiny of the actress and their relationship. "The past week has seen a line crossed. His girlfriend, Meghan Markle, has been subject to a wave of abuse and harassment," the statement read. "It is not right, that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm," the statement continued. "He knows commentators will say this is 'the price she has to pay' and that 'this is all part of the game.' He strongly disagrees. This is not a game—it is her life and his."

11 of 13

The Potterverse Is Back?

fantasticbeastsmovie/facebook

If you really want to talk surreal moments, let's turn to the incredible Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The movie brought us back to the wonderful world of Wizardry, giving us all a much-needed moment of escapism. Plus, Eddie Redmayne might be the cutest wizard ever.

12 of 13

Bella Hadid Becomes Ex-GF Goals?

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Hadid totally owned the runway and lived out all our fantasies of running into our exes by strutting right past her former flame, The Weeknd, at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

13 of 13

Creepy Snowmen Pranks President Obama?

whitehouse/instagram

Of all of President Obama's moments in the White House, this might be the funniest/strangest yet. According to White House photographer, Pete Souza's Instagram: "For the past three weeks, there have been four snowmen on display in the Rose Garden. We’ve been joking that we should move the snowmen a few feet closer to the Oval Office every day to see if anyone noticed. Then we realized the snowmen were too heavy to easily lift. But finally this morning before the president came to the office, some helpful staff—I won’t say who—moved all the snowmen so each one was peeking through a different window into the Oval. This photo was taken this afternoon as the president signed end-of-the-year bills." Unreal.

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Surreal Moments In 2016 That Made Us Ask "Is This Real Life?"

1 of 13

Adele Is An Amazing Rapper?

1 of 13

2 of 13

Ross Geller as Robert Kardashian?

2 of 13

3 of 13

Tom Hiddleston Plays a Weatherman?

3 of 13

4 of 13

Jon Snow Isn't Dead?

4 of 13

5 of 13

Prince George Meets President Obama ... In His Robe?

5 of 13

6 of 13

Beyoncé Releases Lemonade

6 of 13

7 of 13

Simone Biles Stars In Her Very Own Rom-Com?

7 of 13

8 of 13

Bill Clinton Fell In Love With a Balloon?

8 of 13

9 of 13

Prince George Creates a Meme?

9 of 13

10 of 13

Prince Harry Issues a Public Statement About His ... Girlfriend?

10 of 13

11 of 13

The Potterverse Is Back?

11 of 13

12 of 13

Bella Hadid Becomes Ex-GF Goals?

12 of 13

13 of 13

Creepy Snowmen Pranks President Obama?

13 of 13

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