{"id":71186,"date":"2023-12-22T18:58:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-22T23:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=71186"},"modified":"2023-12-22T18:58:34","modified_gmt":"2023-12-22T23:58:34","slug":"im-an-expert-in-slang-here-are-my-picks-for-word-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/im-an-expert-in-slang-here-are-my-picks-for-word-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m an expert in slang \u2013 here are my picks for word of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

As a linguist who specialises in tracking slang and language change, there\u2019s one holiday tradition I always look forward to: the annual selection of the word of the year.<\/p>\n

Dictionary publishers and linguistics associations choose a word or expression \u2013 usually a new term or one that has taken on new meaning in the past year. Oxford Dictionaries describes it a word that reflects \u201cthe ethos, mood, or preoccupations of that particular year\u201d and has \u201clasting potential as a word of cultural significance\u201d.<\/p>\n

Their choices nearly always spark controversy. Older readers harrumph they\u2019ve \u201cnever heard of it\u201d. Millennials and Generation Z dismiss it as \u201cso last year\u201d. Pedants protest that \u201cit\u2019s more than one word\u201d.<\/p>\n

In recent years, publishers have tried to appear objective by releasing a shortlist, selected by scanning massive digital collections of language (called corpora) to track how frequently words are used. They then invite the public to vote on their favourite. This is how we got Oxford Dictionaries\u2019\u00a02023 pick, \u201crizz\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 a shortened version of \u201ccharisma\u201d used to denote attractiveness or charm.<\/p>\n

Individual linguists and lexicographers take a more subjective approach, inviting colleagues or followers to nominate terms, or (as I admit to doing) relying on their own informal reading and assumed expertise.<\/p>\n

The 2023 words of the year<\/strong><\/h4>\n

A strong candidate in 2023, given its prominence on social media and in the news, is the abbreviation AI. This was my own\u00a0pick in 2018<\/a>\u00a0and it\u2019s this year\u2019s nomination by\u00a0Collins Dictionary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cambridge Dictionaries opted for the more specific\u00a0\u201challucinate\u201d<\/a>, in its new sense of AI\u2019s destabilising tendency to provide false information or veer into incoherence while the Economist magazine chose the name of the chatbot tool\u00a0ChatGPT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

US dictionary Merriam-Webster announced their choice of\u00a0\u201cauthentic\u201d<\/a>, noting its role in discourse about AI, celebrity and social media.<\/p>\n

Australian publishers regularly supply quirky new terms from down under. This year, Macquarie Dictionaries selected\u00a0\u201ccozzie livs\u201d<\/a>, an irreverent nickname for the cost of living crisis that I\u00a0first recorded<\/a>\u00a0a year ago in the UK. The Australian National Dictionary Centre has chosen\u00a0\u201cMatilda\u201d<\/a>, the nickname for members of their national women\u2019s soccer team.<\/p>\n

Highlights from history<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The tradition of choosing the year\u2019s most evocative, apt or significant expression dates back to 1970 in Germany and to\u00a01990 in the Anglosphere<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the\u00a0first official<\/a>\u00a0words of the year was \u201cbushlips\u201d in 1990. Meaning \u201cinsincere political rhetoric\u201d, it referred to then US president George HW Bush\u2019s boastful soundbite, \u201cRead my lips: no new taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2015, Oxford Dictionaries teased its readership by nominating the smiling face with tears of joy\u00a0emoji<\/a>. This resulted in predictable expressions of outrage from purists.<\/p>\n

One of the features of slang in general is that it derives its glamour from novelty and exclusivity, but once it escapes its original settings it ceases to be cool. Last year\u2019s Oxford nomination for word of the year was \u201cgoblin mode\u201d, a nickname for sloppy hedonism that many users abandoned as soon as they coined it.<\/p>\n

New words and phrases often come from tech innovation \u2013 see past selections of\u00a0selfie<\/a>,\u00a0metaverse<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0NFT<\/a>.<\/p>\n

They can also be generated by lifestyle changes, trends and obsessions, mostly driven by young people. Many new expressions created and exchanged by younger millennials, Generation Z or Generation Alpha are mocked, misunderstood or simply ignored by\u00a0mainstream media<\/a>.<\/p>\n

My picks for 2023<\/strong><\/h4>\n

If I were four decades younger, my choice\u00a0would be \u201cdelulu\u201d<\/a>. Short for \u201cdelusional\u201d, this representation of GenZ attitudes and TikTok-inspired language change plays with the techniques of word formation. Cutting or reordering syllables, reduplicating sounds for comic effect and creating nuances or ambiguities of meaning are all features of modern slang.<\/p>\n

However, I suspect that, like rizz, it won\u2019t cross the generational divide or endure. It\u2019s characteristic of these fashionable descriptors that nobody can predict which ones will last.<\/p>\n

I fear that \u2013 just like 2020 \u2013 this year will be remembered more for worldwide experience rather than quirky expressions. My instinct then is to choose not slang, jargon or tech-speak, but something else that reflects the tragedies taking place in Israel and Palestine, in Ukraine and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Not a new word at all, but one which, in the language of armed conflict and sectarian cruelty, sums up for me the particular nature of this year\u2019s atrocities and the ambiguous doublespeak\u00a0used to report them<\/a>. My word of the year, as a plural noun or as a singular verb, is \u201ctargets\u201d.<\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong> Tony Thorne is Director of Slang and New Language Archive, Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King’s College London<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a linguist who specialises in tracking slang and language change, there\u2019s one holiday tradition I always look forward to: the annual selection of the word of the year. Dictionary publishers and linguistics associations choose a word or expression \u2013 usually a new term or one that has taken on new meaning in the past […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95],"tags":[22676],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-71186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-slang"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nI\u2019m an expert in slang \u2013 here are my picks for word of the year - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/im-an-expert-in-slang-here-are-my-picks-for-word-of-the-year\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I\u2019m an expert in slang \u2013 here are my picks for word of the year - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As a linguist who specialises in tracking slang and language change, there\u2019s one holiday tradition I always look forward to: the annual selection of the word of the year. 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