It is always interesting to see what the dictionary folks declare their “word of the year” to be. As fragmented as everything feels these days, it’s nice to think about a group of learned individuals steadily tracking how we speak and what we say. I’ve always thought it be fun to be in on the discussion to pick a “word of the year”.

For the Oxford Dictionary, it is “rage bait,” which is telling and sad and makes me want to unplug my computer and pick up a book. Not only because that’s more than one word (though to be fair, last year they chose “brain rot” so maybe they’re just staying on trend), but the fact that it’s so widespread to grab this high a pedestal can’t be a good sign for online conversations.

The folks at the Cambridge Dictionary declared “parasocial” as their pick. While not a new concept, the explosive growth of those types of relationships is yet another descriptor of what time online has done to our sense of personal relationships. Their 2024 Word of the Year was “manifest,” which felt odd at the time. This year’s word feels very timely.

In 2024,  Dictionary.com chose “demure” because it was a social media flash in the pan. For 2025, they have chosen “67” as their word of the year. This one is just dumb. It feels like dictionary folks should pick a word that has ‘arrived’ so to speak, after a long time of working its way into conversations. Not just one of the last 3 months of TikTok memes.

Which, since that last one is actually a number and not a word, may just be rage bait, which is actually two words of the year and not a word of the year… which… I… um…. I think I do need to log off…

Hope you all have a restful and book-filled weekend ahead of you!