…and afterthoughts
My un-asked for, scrambled words of the year for 2025 appear in the wordcloud above. Not based on statistical surveys, frequency scans or media prominence, but on the instincts and intuition of a logophile and lexicographer. The words of the year chosen and promoted by the Dictionary publishers* are worthy in their way, once again favouring expressions generated by tech innovation and social media, but they reflect inevitably the perspective of a cohort (aging dictionary editors and their target market) who are at one remove from the language actually being coined or repurposed by what linguists call ‘expert users’. As I write I realise that my own final selection has left out some important last-minute candidates, now featuring in the end-of-year online discourse: vice-signalling, shroud-waving, microshifting and tablescaping, plus a runner-up, sponcon (= sponsored content) for example. The familiar youth slang term of address unc** has just, belatedly, been noticed by the mainstream media, while the terms flow state, in the zone and locked in, used by influencers, content creators and gamers, all meaning focusing intently on an activity, are not yet on the old person radar.
As the winter solstice came and went I was quoted in a few of mainstream media’s reviews of the year’s language…
In Lane Greene‘s discussion of slang and its significance…
In Eleanor Noyce‘s piece for Metro…
And Lauren Robinson‘s for ABC News Australia…
I also discussed with Lauren Cochrane of I-D magazine how a keyword from critical theory had been repurposed – more than once – in online discourse…
**https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-15408445/younger-person-unc-meaning-explained.html
…and lastly I promise, a last word before Christmas Day: treatonomics, also known as Little Treat Culture, describes the trend for affordable indulgences, small, emotionally satisfying purchases that offer ‘guilt-free joy’
tony thorne 