After ‘rizzing’, their way our of ‘goblin mode’, ‘quiet quitting’ their ‘situationships’, and becoming ‘mindful’ and ‘demure’ in the face of an increasingly ‘toxic’ world, the youngsters of the world seem to now be addressing a more sombre side of their digital evolution: ‘Brain Rot’. That’s the ‘Oxford Word of the Year’ for 2024 and it seems describes a feeling or condition that is today relatable not just for the youth but an increasing number of adults. 

‘Brain rot’ refers to “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.” It is a reflection of the growing angst felt by an increasingly digitised population in the face of a virtual world, simulated realities and explosion of content. According to Oxford University Press (OUP), the phrase’s popularly grew manifold in 2024 with a whopping 230 percent increase in the frequency of its usage since last year. 

The phrase beat out other contenders for the title such as ‘demure’, ‘dynamic pricing’, ‘lore’, ‘romantasy’ and ‘slop’. Last year, ‘Rizz’ (slang used by ‘Gen Z’ or ‘millennials’ to denote someone’s “style, charm, or attractiveness; the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner”) beat out phrases like 'Situationship', 'swiftie', 'beige flag' and 'de-influencing’. 

OUP’s annual custom which began in 2004 is intended to highlight the shifts and usages of language that “shape global conversations and reflect the cultural shifts, patterns, and sentiments of a particular year”. A look at its shortlists and winners from the last two decades encapsulates the phenomenal shift in modes and mediums of communication, which became increasingly driven by digital mediums like smartphones and AI-driven platforms and social media. Also, it helps us understand the most pressing concerns and issues facing upcoming generations.

Capturing shifting realities 

New words reflect changing times, cultures and knowledge systems. While many of the older generations may scoff at the farrago of new words seemingly infiltrating the English language every day, thanks to the ‘digital age’,  one must remember that language is a dynamic phenomenon and new words reflect this dynamism. They respond to the changing realities of the people in the current world and evolve as a “direct reflection of the preoccupations of society in any particular era”. In other words, it helps the young (and the old) make sense of the world around, which is changing faster than ever today. 

In the last few years, for instance, we have seen phrases like ‘love bombing’, ‘ghosting’, ‘bed-crumbing’, ‘situationship’, ‘benching’, ‘cuffing’ and others emerge, denoting new trends in relationships and perceptions of love and romance. There are other words too like ‘side chick’, ‘DTR’, ‘bae’, red/green/beige flags, to denote a partner or a relationship. 

While the phrases may seem like new fangled fads (and they are) but in most cases, these terms denote cultural phenomena that already existed but had escaped universalisation.

Take ‘love bombing’ for instance, which is the “romantic equivalent of a supernova that leaves devastation in its wake”. Often used to denote a person’s behaviour at the start of a romantic relationship when they tend to engage in overt displays of love and affection, the term was coined in the 1970s by psychologist and religious cult researcher Martha Singer, and describes a phenomenon that isn’t all that new. 

Just like ‘love bombing’, concepts like ‘bread crumbing’ (manipulating a romantic partner or potential partner by giving them just enough attention to keep them interested without intending to commit to a relationship) or ‘ghosting’ (abruptly cutting off contact with someone without giving that person any reason or explanation) are not new concepts or phenomenon, as anyone who has dipped into the dating pool as a teenager or young adult would know. They also often have older lexicological roots than may appear at first sight, reflecting to the ingenious creativity behind some of these new words. ‘Bread crumbing’, the term, for instance, is inspired by the old children’s fairy tale Hansel and Gretel in which the two lost kids leave a trail of breadcrumbs in their wake. 

Ghosting became popular much before Gen Z, sometime in the last 80s-90s when the word started emerging in rap musicians’ lexicon, inferring to something like an ‘escape’. Perhaps it’s best to understand some of these words/phrases as convenient euphemisms for harsher realities. You say ‘Tom/Tammy ghosted me’ instead of saying ‘Tom/Tammy went for a loaf of bread and never came back”. 

In some cases, new terms or phrases acknowledge new forms of connecting with and responding to the emotional, cultural and social stimuli of the world. ‘Situationship’, for instance, can be a very adaptive phrase, signifying anything from a light dalliance to courtship to an informal romantic relationship or just casual sex. The popularity of the term among youth perhaps is symbolic of the changing perceptions of gender roles and gender-based institutions like marriage and may speak of a youth more empowered and unafraid to explore their sexuality than previous generations. 

In other cases, ’new’ words are simply old ones with a new, twisted, deconstructed or distorted meaning. Words like ‘Slay,' 'Rizz,' 'Drip,' 'Bussin,' 'Lewk,' 'Sus,' are all derivations of existing words. ‘Slay’, which was popularised by LGBTQIA communities and later Millennials/Gen Z/Gen Alpha to refer to when someone performs well or looks swell, was first used as a verb and noun in the Old English period, before 1150. ‘Rizz’ is a derivation of ‘Charisma’, ‘Bussin’, meaning something is excellent, delicious, or extremely good, is borrowed from the African American Vernacular English (AAVE), ‘Lewk’ is just a respelling of ‘look’ while ‘Sus’ is a shortened form of suspicion, used in a similar fashion.

New words also unobtrusively reflect the sociopolitical evolution of intellectual discourse. New terms like ‘trad’ ( short for traditional’, denoting a person with conservative, often right wing views), TERF (used to refer to Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist), even hashtags like #BlackLivesMatter reflect new and existing conversations about gender and politics. Words relating to climate, for instance, including ‘Climate Emergency’ which was the 2019 Oxford Word of the Year, have seen an increase in usage in the past decade, especially  by young people. 

Outlook’s previous issues and stories have looked at the evolution of new words and ways of speaking to understand the changing ways of seeing, perceiving and interpreting the world around us and how these new words are tied to one’s identity, be it social, political or emotional.