EngLangBlog

Lots of early interest in the new offering from @englangblog.bsky.social - teacher conference about social and occupational groups

One word or two? - Descript a word is a unit of meaning and a unit of meaning, which is sensible. doesn't have to quite literally be one discreet unit of characters. So I think because of writing and formal writing standards, w

Here's a clip from the next episode of the podcast in which we talk about the words of the year and why 'rage bait' fits one linguistic definition of a 'word'.
share.descript.com/view/Yzj5Lej...

We'll be talking about this iconic moment in the death of a slang term in our next episode.
bsky.app/profile/hoov...

Preview Lexis John Kelly WOTY2025 - Descript Uh, but what's really interesting to me is just the shift, as I was talking about before, from the kind of techno optimism of the early earlier parts of the century and now where it is very critical.

Quick peek at our next episode and what we're talking about with @mashedradish.bsky.social
share.descript.com/view/XQ5aTYF...

Prison officer admits sex with male inmate AND role in drugs operation Robinson pleaded not guilty to a third count of supplying Class A drug cocaine, along with others, to another.

Apologies for sharing the Mail Online but stone me, you only have to get to the *second word* of the article to see how gendered the reporting of this case is. I'd say there's a good investigation in here but it's a bit obvious! www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

We're delighted to let you know that EMC MediaMagazine has gone off for print today, with the download available already for web subscribers. Loads of articles about Film and Media Studies set texts along with plenty for the general reader. Kneecap anybody? englishandmedia.co.uk/emc-magazines/

Linguists start compiling first ever complete dictionary of ancient Celtic More than 1,000 words used as far back as 325BC to be collected for insight into past linguistic landscape

'The dictionary will not be huge because relatively few words survive, but experts from Aberystwyth University say they expect they will end up with more than 1,000 words.'

I think I'll take the word (lol) of a lexicographer, thanks.

'Another' was once two words and I don't see you complaining about that one 😂

Why is the Word of the Year often made up of two words? - Macquarie We get asked this question a lot, so we thought we'd get in ahead of the game. Readers, take note. What is a 'word'? When we consider the lexical treasures of the year that has been, we will crown one...

Why is the Word of the Year often made up of two words? - Macquarie share.google/y9GE45eBbEMj...

Why is the Word of the Year often made up of two words? - Macquarie We get asked this question a lot, so we thought we'd get in ahead of the game. Readers, take note. What is a 'word'? When we consider the lexical treasures of the year that has been, we will crown one...

share.google/y9GE45eBbEMj...

"... a ‘word’ is essentially the item that you look up in the dictionary to find the meaning. Therefore, it can be made up of more than one element (we have well established two-element words to which we never bat an eyelid: doorframe, suitcase, drink bottle... "

I think it's a fairly good one for 2025 and voted for it on the shortlist! I probably would have gone for something darker though but then I'm a bit of a doomer...

Rage Bait Is a Brilliant Word of the Year In the free market of language, the most innovative and incisive words win.

"_Rage bait_ is evocative and useful. Because the English language had previously failed to provide such an efficient term, we should be glad that the internet has come through."
#woty2025

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2025/1...

'Anarchist' might be better than 'nihilist'. In fact, I'd probably agree with that sentiment away from linguistics too 😂

You're smarter than me, so I think you'll be able to offer a better explanation, but I guess while you can look up a literal meaning in a dictionary, you aren't necessarily going to find a dictionary telling you what a glottal stop or creaky voice means. That's probably too binary though!

The Words That Define Our 'Enshittified' World Dan Clayton picks out the words contributing to the 'enshittification' of our world, in the era of Donald Trump and Elon Musk

And finally here's my take on 'enshittification' as a form of tech decay and political crisis.
The Words That Define Our 'Enshittified' World share.google/3yBkRwpZvC9U...

Brain Rot: What the Oxford Word of the Year Tells Us About 2024 Dan Clayton traces the remarkably prescient twenty year record of the Oxford Word of the Year award

Here's a 2024 (and 20 years of #WOTY) one for @bylinetimes.bsky.social
share.google/wKfZx9VcIEMP...

Hallucinating AIs and What The Words Of The Year Lists Reveal About our Modern World AI is not just disrupting our lives but our very language too, writes Dan Clayton

Here's my 2023 overview for @bylinetimes.bsky.social
Hallucinating AIs and What The Words Of The Year Lists Reveal About our Modern World – Byline Times share.google/9MlZUwp2jTBu...

Opinion: 2022’s Words of the Year and what they tell us Collins Dictionary’s choice this year is ‘permacrisis’, and that feels about right

Here's my 2022 one, in case anyone is interested in seeing how wrong I was about 'nepo baby'.
2022’s Words of the Year and what they tell us | The Independent share.google/96AyI8kQq1Ah...

Maybe more about social meaning than literal meaning?

I've written a few of these for previous years' #WOTY nominations but it doesn't look like I'll need to this year 🤣

The conclusion? "This year’s crop of words might best be summed up by a single emoji: the shrug (🤷). Throwing one’s hands up, in resignation or indifference, captures the anarchy that seems to characterize our digital lives."

2025’s words of the year reflect a year of digital disillusionment From AI slop to rage bait, to the cryptic ‘6-7,’ this year’s slate captures a growing sense that online life is flooded with fakery, frustration and meaninglessness.

Here's an overview of a few of the #WOTY2025 choices so far.
theconversation.com/2025s-words-...

Here's a High School student reminiscing wistfully about the slang of 2025 like a grandpa sitting on a porch:

I hear “6-7” less and less as the weeks pass, and now it rarely appears on my social media. Despite the trend slowly getting old, I still smile a bit when I hear the numbers “6” and “7”

The responses I've seen from students, years 11 through to 13, to even the *possibility* that 6-7 might kick off in a classroom have been hilarious. There has been a noticeably physical cringe from nearly all of them. That's a slang term with the tiniest half-life ever (yet).

What Teenagers Are Saying About ‘6-7’ and the Era of ‘Brain Rot’

I'm here for the expression 'nonsense grenade' 🤣
What Teenagers Are Saying About ‘6-7’ and the Era of ‘Brain Rot’ - The New York Times www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/l...

And now I've looked it up it gives me a very different view of what it means. I'd always assumed it was about being *really* drunk and going for it (intoxication) because you had three sails out. But it turns out the 'sheets' are ropes and having only three is a bad thing, meaning you're unstable.