{"id":21607,"date":"2025-12-20T18:00:44","date_gmt":"2025-12-20T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=21607"},"modified":"2025-12-20T18:00:44","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T10:00:44","slug":"language-matters-word-of-the-year-2025-choices-reflect-how-virtual-our-reality-has-become","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=21607","title":{"rendered":"Language Matters | Word of the Year 2025 choices reflect how virtual our reality has become"},"content":{"rendered":"


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If 2025\u2019s zeitgeist is manifested by the various Word of the Year (WOTY) choices of dictionaries and other language-related bodies, then this year has us unequivocally positioned in the virtual world.<\/p>\n

WOTY choices are based on a combination of usage, public vote and committee deliberation.<\/p>\n

\u201cRage bait\u201d is Oxford\u2019s WOTY for 2025. The term, which denotes something that deliberately annoys others, was first coined in 2002 to describe a driver\u2019s reaction to being flashed at by another driver requesting to pass them.<\/p>\n

Its use has since expanded to refer to online content designed to be frustrating, provocative or offensive, typically posted to increase engagement with a particular web page or social media account. The term\u2019s usage tripled in the past year.<\/p>\n

Such low-quality content is increasingly produced by generative AI and often comprises propaganda and fake news, which fits in nicely with Macquarie Dictionary\u2019s 2025 WOTY \u2013 \u201cAI slop\u201d \u2013 and those of Merriam-Webster and The Economist, who went with simply \u201cslop\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\"\u201cAI<\/div>
\u201cAI Slop\u201d is Macquarie Dictionary\u2019s 2025 word of the year. Photo: Shutterstock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
These choices underscore how such brainrot<\/span> content, however denigrated, has become a significant part of our everyday engagement.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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If 2025\u2019s zeitgeist is manifested by the various Word of the Year (WOTY) choices of dictionaries and other language-related bodies, then this year has us…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[6273,6680,6681,709,3742,3627,6474,791],"class_list":["post-21607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bored-interesting","tag-choices","tag-language","tag-matters","tag-reality","tag-reflect","tag-virtual","tag-word","tag-year","wpcat-33-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}