The Most Looked-Up Words and Other Vocab Variations
With 2024 just around the corner, it’s that time again when we find out what the words of the year, i.e., those that online dictionaries say rose to the top of the search hierarchy.
At year end, we also usually find out what America has deemed the most annoying words or phrases in the last 12 months.
As of this writing, it is not clear if the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion, a.k.a. the Marist Poll, has conducted the traditional research into which words got on everybody’s nerves in 2023. Check back for updates.
2023 Dictionary Words of the Year
As a preamble, it’s notable and refreshing that these words aren’t politicized for a change.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, authentic is the word of the year based on a particularly high look-up rate.
Per the announcement, “Authentic has a number of meanings including ‘not false or imitation,’ a synonym of real and actual; and also ‘true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character.’ Although clearly a desirable quality, authentic is hard to define and subject to debate—two reasons it sends many people to the dictionary,” the editors explained.
“And with the rise of artificial intelligence—and its impact on deepfake videos, actors’ contracts, academic honesty, and a vast number of other topics—the line between ‘real’ and ‘fake’ has become increasingly blurred.”
Merriam-Webster also called attention to other words that spiked in search such as the aforementioned deepfake, along with rizz (see below), coronation, dystopian, EGOT, X, implode, submersible, doppelganger, covenant, indict, elemental, kibbutz, and deadname.
Oxford Languages has announced that rizz is its word of the year based on about 32,000 votes and “a team of language experts.”
Here is Oxford’s summary:
Pertaining to someone’s ability to attract another person through style, charm, or attractiveness, this term is from the middle part of the word ‘charisma’, which is an unusual word formation pattern. Other examples include ‘fridge’ (refrigerator) and ‘flu’ (influenza). The word ‘rizz’ can also be used as a verb, often in the phrase ‘rizz up’, which means ‘to attract, seduce, or chat up (a person)’.
The finalists included prompt, situationship, and Swiftie.
Dictionary.com and Cambridge Select the Same Word of the Year
In the context of AI rather that based on a traditional meaning, Dictionary.com has named hallucinate its word of the year 2023, with lookups increasing year over year by 46 percent. Rizz was one of the word that made the shortlist.
Along these lines, “The Cambridge Dictionary team chose hallucinate as its Word of the Year 2023 as it recognized that the new meaning gets to the heart of why people are talking about AI. Generative AI is a powerful tool but one we’re all still learning how to interact with safely and effectively – this means being aware of both its potential strengths and its current weaknesses.”
Jumping on the same general bandwagon, the Collins Dictionary has named AI as its word of the year. ” Considered to be the next great technological revolution, AI has seen rapid development and has been much talked about in 2023.”
The American Dialect Society intends to announce its word of the year on January 5, 2024, at the annual meeting of the Linguistic Society of America.
Check back for updates.
Update 1/6/24: The society’s word/vocabulary item of the year is the supposedly popular enshittification.
“More than three hundred attendees took part in the deliberations and voting, in an event hosted in conjunction with the Linguistic Society of America’s annual meeting. The term enshittification became popular in 2023 after it was used in a blog post by author Cory Doctorow, who used it to describe how digital platforms can become worse and worse,” the press release detailed.
Down with Uptalk
At this time of year, this blog again renews its call for an end to the very annoying uptalk vocal intonation.
Succinctly defined by Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries, uptalk (sometimes called upspeak or high-rising terminal) is “a way of speaking in which the voice rises at the end of a statement, making it sound like a question.”
Click here for more information about this insufferable verbal phenomenon.
Gaslighting
In an entirely separate issue, gaslighting has become commonplace, unfortunately.
Among its definitions, gaslighting is “the practice of deceiving people through the repetition of a constructed false narrative.
Click here for an important essay about gaslighting.
Banished Words List
On a similar theme to the annoying words compilation from Marist (which may or may not surface) , and usually on December 31, Michigan’s Lake Superior State University releases its annual tongue-in-cheek list of words/phrases that theoretically/satirically should be banished from the English language in the upcoming new year.
Derived from about 2,000 nominations from around there world, here is the 2024 LSSU list:
- Hack
- Impact
- At the end of the day
- Rizz (Oxford’s word of the year)
- Slay
- Iconic
- Cringe-worthy
- Obsessed
- Side huslte
- Wait for it
Beginning in 1976, “This tradition highlights certain words that are often misused, overused, or have lost their meaning over the past year. It encourages us to laugh at ourselves as we reconsider and reflect on the importance of our vocabulary,” the LSSU press release explains in part. “As we part ways with words and phrases that have overstayed their welcome and enter a new era, let the banishment be a reminder of language’s dynamic nature and the joy found in embracing its ever-evolving landscape.”
Additional Words or Slang Not to Live By
Like a comfortable hoodie or pair of socks, certain words/phrases fit a situation and provide a shorthand way to get your message across. They may or may not constitute as annoying words.
However, a lot more of them have entrenched themselves in everyday conversation and lexicon as clichés or fillers.
Some even have outlived their “shelf life” and “sell-by-date,” although your conversational mileage may vary.
Click here for a list of potential additional banishment candidates
Pressing the Reset Button on These Words
Here is the other side of the coin also from a Michigan educational institution. Wayne State University’s annual Word Warriors initiative that assembles a list of words to bring back “from the brink of obsolescence,” i.e. “for word nerds around the world to enrich their vocabulary.”
All year long, Wayne State take suggestions from the general public, as well as its from administrators of its Word Warriors website, for long-forgotten words worthy of receiving new life.
The 2023 top-ten list in Word Warriors’ 14th year (get your dictionary ready) is as follows:
- Bunbury
- Claptrap
- Crepuscular
- Gasconade
- Mogshade
- Overmighty
- Podsnappery
- Rizzle
- Stravage
- Trice
This post will be updated as additional information becomes available. Happy New Year.
