Many people may be suffering from a case of “brain rot,” the 2024 Oxford Word of the Year, after being bombarded with endless election news on social media and TV. After tallying over 37,000 votes from around the world, Oxford University Press announced “brain rot” as the winner. This noun refers to the assumed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state due to excessive consumption of trivial online content. It also encompasses anything likely to lead to such deterioration.
Oxford’s language experts considered text and audio data, along with public votes and commentary, before making the final decision. Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Languages, stated that “brain rot” reflects the perceived dangers of virtual life and how we spend our free time. It captures the ongoing cultural conversation about humanity and technology. It’s no surprise that many voters embraced the term as our choice this year.
Interestingly, “brain rot” has its roots in American writer Henry David Thoreau’s 1854 book “Walden.” Thoreau criticized society’s inclination to devalue complex ideas in favour of simple ones, highlighting a decline in mental and intellectual effort. The term gained new prominence in 2024 among Gen Z and Gen Alpha, particularly to express concerns about excessive consumption of low-quality online content, especially on social media.
Katherine Martin, product director for Oxford Languages, noted that “brain rot” captures the anxiety surrounding finding the right balance between the online world and the real world. It’s interesting to see young people using the term to refer to the language used by those who overindulge in online content, creating a wonderfully recursive and self-referential meaning.
Other Contending Words for the 2024 Oxford Word of the Year:
- Lore: A body of (supposed) facts, background information, and anecdotes relating to someone or something, regarded as knowledge required for full understanding or informed discussion of the subject in question.
- Demure: Reserved or restrained in appearance or behavior (of a person), or not showy, ostentatious, or overly revealing (of clothing). Demure was also named Dictionary.com’s word of the year for 2024, gaining popularity through TikTok star Jools Lebron.
- Dynamic pricing: The practice of varying the price for a product or service to reflect changing market conditions, particularly charging a higher price during times of greater demand.
- Slop: Art, writing, or other content generated using artificial intelligence, shared and distributed online in an indiscriminate or intrusive way, and characterized as being of low quality, inauthentic, or inaccurate.
- Romantasy: A genre of fiction that combines elements of romantic fiction and fantasy, typically featuring themes of magic, the supernatural, or adventure alongside a central romantic storyline.
Oxford’s Word of the Year in 2023:
The Oxford Word of the Year for 2023 was “rizz,” which is understood as a shortened form of “charisma.” Collins Dictionary also chose a word of the year for 2024 based on Charli XCX’s album and the word’s association with Vice President Kamala Harris.
