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Since the American Dialect Association selected the word of the year at its 1990 conference, more than half a dozen English dictionary companies have chosen an annual word or phrase that aims to encapsulate the zeitgeist of the previous year. .
In 2003, the publishers of Merriam-Webster Dictionary began awarding laurels. On December 9, 2024, the company selected “polarization” as the word of the year, and other dictionaries’ lists of 2024 winners included “brat,” “manifesto,” “modest,” “brain rot,” “Encitization” has been added. ”
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Respected terms are selected in different ways. For example, this year the editors of Oxford Dictionaries allowed the public to vote for their favorite from a short list of candidates. Brain rot has won.
Other publishers rely on the insight of their editors, augmented by measures of popularity such as the number of online searches for a particular term.
Given that sales of printed reference books are in sharp decline, these annual announcements increase the visibility of publishers’ products. But their choices are also a window into the zeitgeist.
As a cognitive scientist who studies language and communication, I see in this year’s awardees the myriad impacts of digital life on the English language and culture.
hit and miss
This year isn’t the only year that nearly all of the winners fell under a single thematic umbrella. 2020 saw the rapid emergence of infectious disease-related terms such as coronavirus, lockdown, pandemic, and quarantine.
However, there is usually a mix of factors, and some choices are more prescient and useful than others. For example, in 2005, just before the program format exploded in popularity, the New Oxford American Dictionary selected “podcast.”
More generally, well-known neologisms don’t age very well.
In 2008, the New Oxford American Dictionary selected hypermiling, or driving to maximize fuel efficiency. In 2022, the editors of Collins Dictionary agreed with the ongoing emergency: the permacrisis.
Both terms will be less commonly used in 2024.
Brain rot revealed
We can already predict that one of this year’s selections, “Gaki,” will fall by the wayside.
Just before the 2024 U.S. election, Collins Dictionary named “brat” its word of the year. The publisher defined it as “characterized by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude.”
Not coincidentally, it’s also the name of Charli XCX’s chart-topping album, released in June 2024. In late July, the singer tweeted, “Kamala is a brat,” hinting at her support for the Democratic presidential candidate.
Of course, with the loss of Harris, Blatt has lost some of its luster.
Other 2024 Words of the Year also appreciate their popularity on social media.
In late November, Cambridge Dictionaries named manifesto its word of the year, defining it as “helping people imagine achieving what they want, using methods such as visualization and affirmations.”
This term was popularized by singer Dua Lipa when she used it in an interview. However, she seems to have picked up on this concept from the self-help community on TikTok.
Another word that has clearly benefited from social media is “modest”, which was chosen by Dictionary.com in late November. The term dates back to the 15th century and went viral in early August with a TikTok video posted by Jules Lebron. In it, she describes appropriate workplace behavior as being “very modest and very thoughtful.”
The Macquarie Dictionary of Australian English identified ‘enshittification’ as its word in early December. A term coined by Canadian-British author Cory Doctorow in 2022, which refers to the gradual decline in the functionality and ease of use of a particular platform or service, such as Google, TikTok, X, and dating apps. users prove it.
The 2024 Oxford Dictionary of Choice, Brain Rot, encapsulates the mind-numbing effects of excessive social media use.
The dictionary maker defines the word of the year as “the mental or intellectual condition of a person seen as a result of overconsumption of material (now especially online content) that is considered particularly trivial or unchallenging” “It is considered to be a deterioration of the
But brain rot is not a new concept. In the conclusion of Walden, Henry David Thoreau complained that “corruption of the brain” was spreading “widespread and deadly.”
digital knife out
Merriam-Webster has chosen “polarization” as its word of the year. Dictionary creators defined this term as “to separate into two distinct opposites.” Specifically, it refers to a condition in which the opinions, beliefs, and interests of a group or society are no longer spread along a continuum but are concentrated at opposing extremes. ”
In the United States, political polarization has many causes, ranging from gerrymandering to in-group bias.
But there is no doubt that social media plays a big role. A 2021 review by the Brookings Institution points to “the relationship between technology platforms and extreme polarization that can lead to the erosion of democratic values and sectarian violence.” And journalist Max Fischer has reported on how the algorithms deployed by these social media platforms “steer users toward anger,” an empirical study of the phenomenon supports. It’s an observation.
Despite the polarization of political and social life, the dictionary has at least reached a consensus that big tech is shaping our lives and language, for better or for worse.
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